Outside the lines

But in the weeks after Yannone's letter, the village engineer sent this memo to the Planning Board, confirming that the building into which The River Bank plans to expand is outside of the CBS (Central Business and Shopping Zone).

Close-up of above letter, which also notes that 21 parking spaces are required by the Code, for the restaurant expansion, but that only 2 are proposed.

At the December meeting of the village Planning Board, Missere's attorney, Michael O'Connor, waved a letter from former code enforcement officer Bob Gilmore.

The letter from Gilmore is dated September 21, but Yannone says it was not in the file in the building office, on Shore Road. Gilmore's assistant told the Local by phone that she had not promptly filed the letter, but that she typed it on the date shown.

"The actual present restaurant is not in the right district," said Horst Hoffman, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals at the board's Jan. 14 meeting. "Did you look at the map? Would you agree with the assessment I just made?" said Hoffman to Tony Missere. "No, Sir," Missere said in response.

Bob Fink (right) is the attorney to the Planning Board on issues related to Missere (Howard Protter recused himself since his firm, Jacobowitz & Gubits, represents Missere, though not on this issue). "Based on this application, this board, I don't think, has any jurisdiction to act," Fink told the ZBA on Jan. 14. They could only interpret the Zoning Law, and determine whether 9 River Avenue is in the CBS or not, if an aggrieved party (like Yannone) filed a challenge.

What's a board to do? Mary Aspin and Lee Murphy (in yellow) of the Planning Board talk with Horst Hoffman and ZBA members Peter Osinski and Mike Kelly after the Jan. 14 meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Ray Yannone was at the meeting of the Planning Board the next night, Jan. 15. "Whether that's correct or not, that's something you have to live with," Fink told the Planning Board about Gilmore's determination that The River Bank and 9 River Ave. are in the CBS even though the 1977 zoning map seems to clearly show otherwise. Planning Board member Lee Murphy spoke of the Zoning Law's "ambiguity." Yannone disagreed that the law was ambiguous. "It's crystal clear," he said. "The applicant, to get approval, made a misrepresentation." River Bank co-owner / chef Lucie Provencher is in background (left).

The Planning Board proceeded with their review of the site plan for 9 River Avenue on Jan. 15, asking Tony Missere (in pink) how he planned to connect the two buildings, and what he planned to do with the building's facade.

Mary Aspin and the Planning Board sent this letter to the mayor last week, asking that the Village Board act to clarify the current boundaries of the CBS district, to prevent confusion in the future.