A land-use dispute stretching back nearly two decades between the Town of Riverhead and a Jamesport restaurant got a new hearing before the Zoning Board of Appeals last week — nearly eight years after a State Supreme Court judge ordered the hearing be held.
At issue is the restaurant’s desire to hold catered events on its Manor Lane property outside the restaurant building. The restaurant has been using tents on the property to host the events and residents in the area object to the events because of amplified music and voices they say deprive them of the peaceful enjoyment of their own properties.
The dispute has a long history of litigation, dating back to 2004.
The owners of the Jamesport Manor Inn are asking the Riverhead ZBA to review April 2008 and January 2009 letters by former Riverhead Planning Director Richard Hanley concerning a site plan application for the use of a temporary tent on the property and a site plan application to build a barn on the site for catered events.
Hanley declined to put the restaurant’s site plan applications on the planning board’s agenda because, he said, they were applications to expand a pre-existing, non-conforming use and, as such, they required a special permit from the town board.
The owner of the property, Kar-McVeigh LLC, appealed Hanley’s determinations to the ZBA, which in August 2009 dismissed the appeal, citing the applicant’s “willful intent to frustrate due process and prevent an orderly and timely hearing on this matter” because the applicant requested several adjournments and then failed and “willfully refused” to properly post notice of the adjourned hearing date.
Ensuing litigation resulted in an April 2013 decision by State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti annulling the ZBA’s 2009 decision and sending the matter back to the ZBA for a decision on review of Hanley’s letters.
That’s what eventually brought the matter back before the ZBA last week.
“I have no knowledge as to why the hearing never got scheduled between 2013 and 2021,” the applicant’s attorney, Linda Margolin, told the ZBA at last week’s hearing. “I do know that I was contacted in the summer of 2021 by my client saying that the town attorney had reached out about holding this hearing that was ordered by the judge in 2013.”
Margolin replaced Kar-McVeigh’s prior attorneys, Ciarelli and Dempsey, whom she said were “long retired.”
Margolin said the question before the board now is two-fold:
“Did Mr. Hanley have the power to make that determination,” she asked. “If he did, was he “free to disregard the determination of this board and the determination of the court case that followed this board’s 2004 determination, which addressed the issue of catering as an accessory use in a separate facility to be erected on my client’s property.”
The owner needs a building to make sure he can comply with the town code’s noise ordinance, Margolin said, but he’s been prevented from filing the site plan application by Hanley’s 2009 letter.
“We believe, based on everything that happened here, that this board is obliged to find that Mr. Hanley’s letters are wrong and that no special permit from the town board is required,” she said. “And that he was wrong to reject the site plan application that should have proceeded to the planning board.”
Riverhead Planning and Building Administrator Jefferson Murphree told the ZBA he agrees with Hanley’s letters. The applicant’s restaurant use is not permitted under the site’s current Agricultural Protection Zone classification, Murphree said. Adding either a tent or a new building for the catering use is an expansion of a pre-existing, non-conforming use, he said.
Area residents turned out to object to any decision that would allow the restaurant to continue outdoor catering. Most complained about noise emanating from the site when it hosts catered events, particularly weddings.
John Sipala, who owns property around the Jamesport Manor Inn and operates a nursery there, said an approval of the applicant’s plans “would be nothing short of a major disruption to the quality of life” in the area.
The Jamesport Manor Inn has “turned into a full-blown wedding catering hall operation,” Sipala said. Amplified music by DJs and speeches by members of the wedding parties make it difficult to even have a conversation on his property next door, Sipala told the board.
“The tented catering hall is now the focus and cash cow for the entire operation, complete with multiple tents, tented walkways to lead customers from cocktail hour to the reception tent, a sea-land container for storage, and a high-end luxury portable lavatory to accommodate all the needs of a commercial wedding,” he said.
Sipala said he does not believe a new building for catered events will mean they will take place indoors, because a structure will not serve the needs of the clientele that a wedding venue brings in. People want outdoor weddings, he said.
“It’s a new phenomenon in the wedding industry. No one believes that the same business model will suddenly be switched and couples getting married will now be satisfied to be limited to an indoor event in an air-conditioned building with soundproof walls, and with doors closed, when the weather outside is gorgeous.”
The structure will only serve “as a prop of sorts,” Sipala said. “The doors will be open, tents will be hastily put up and attendees will still be celebrating the events outdoors,” he said. “The noise will continue to be a major issue,” he predicted.
Noise from the venue travels a great distance over the open farm fields in the area, Sipala said. “The noise keeps the people who live in houses near and far awake when they would prefer to be asleep,” he said. “I say no weddings. I say no graduations or birthdays.”
Other neighbors also came to complain about noise from the facility.
Robert Skinner of Eileen Circle said he hears the same thing Sipala described from his home more than a half-mile away.
“Please do not approve this and then shackle our neighborhood a half a mile away to what this represents,” Skinner said.
Phil Barbato, who was one of the plaintiffs in a 2004 lawsuit brought against the town and Kar-McVeigh over a prior ruling, said he is glad the current planning director supports the letters written by the previous planning director.
“I think that’s what this particular hearing is all about. And I totally support it,” Barbato said. “And I hope that you all put another stamp on that and agree these are correct and that you support it as well.”
Manor Lane resident and farmer Bonnie Schmitt objected to the town allowing catered events at the site.
“It is detrimental to our quality of life and our health to be subjected to the continuous and unreasonable noise of DJs, crowds of people, and the amplified outdoor bass music,” Schmitt said. “The Riverhead code enforcement officer has been to our home documenting the excessive noise levels. Why are residents being forced to endure two to three events being held weekly in a non-conforming agricultural protection zone? We are unable to escape this nuisance even when inside our home,” Schmitt said.
“This has become a community nuisance,” Schmitt said.
Dr. Gary Rosenbaum of Manor Lane, a physician at Peconic Bay Medical Center and 31-year resident of the area also went to the podium to complain about the noise from the facility.
“The noise of this non-conforming use penetrates into my bedroom,” he said. An infectious disease specialist and “the main COVID doctor in the region,” Rosenbaum said when he comes home after a hard day at the hospital, “having to hear this every weekend is very upsetting.”
Longtime restaurant owner Matthew Kar also spoke. “It hurts me that I hurt so many people and it’s not my intent. I’m trying to run a business,” he said.
Kar said he hired sound consultants to develop a plan to take care of what he called “a little bit of a noise problem.” He said he’s been trying to get a building for catering approved for years.
“We’ve been trying for so long to get something approved, and I understand people don’t want it, but just like they have a right to their property, I think we have a right to our property,” Kar said.
He said he felt like people were “piling on,” and try to make him out to be “a bad guy.”
“I started the (Jamesport) Country Kitchen 37 years ago. I’ve been in this town a long time, working very hard. And I told you 13 years ago this was a family business and my son was going to take over and that’s happening. Shouldn’t I be proud and happy as a dad?”
Kar said last year there was an unusual number of events because they didn’t have any in 2020 due to COVID. Each event has 80 to 200 people, he said. Kar said he gets permits from the town for every tent he erects.
Greater Jamesport Civic Association President James Derenze said the Town of Riverhead has new litigation pending against Kar-McVeigh in State Supreme Court.
“The Town of Riverhead itself has described the applicant as a public nuisance,” Derenze said.
The town in September brought a suit seeking a declaratory judgment, civil penalties of about $75,000 and an injunction against use of the premises for catering, outdoor events and weddings.
The town maintains in its court papers that the owner is using the premises in a manner that requires a special use permit for expansion of a pre-existing use but has failed or neglected to obtain that permit. It seeks a judgment declaring that the use of the premises for outdoor catered events is not permitted under the zoning as well as an injunction barring the continued use for that purpose.
ZBA Chairman Fred McLaughlin said that issue is not before the board.
“You should educate yourself as to what your town attorney is doing in this matter regarding this applicant and use that as as a factor to consider their request for a special permit,” Derenze pressed. “That’s my point.”
The Zoning Board of Appeals reserved decision in the appeal until its next meeting, scheduled for April 14.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.