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Bonefish wins suit against Rockville Centre

Judge rules restaurant can open for lunch, get rid of valets

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Last week, a Nassau County Supreme Court judge ruled that Bonefish Grill could be open for lunch on the weekends, overturning the village’s decision to limit the business’s hours.

Calling the village’s decision to restrict the restaurant’s hours “arbitrary and unreasonable,” Justice Steven M. Jaeger ruled in favor of Bonefish in the Article 78 proceeding it filed against the village in July. Jaeger also ruled that the village could not force Bonefish to have valet parking during its business hours.

Jaeger was criticized by the village earlier in the year when it was revealed that Bonefish’s attorney, Long Beach’s Michael Zapson, was one of nine “Honorary Chairs” on the judge’s re-election committee. The village petitioned to have the case dismissed and given to another judge, but the court ruled that it would remain impartial over the hearings.

The suit arose after the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals ruled that Bonefish could only be open from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, meaning it couldn’t be open for lunch on weekdays.

Problems also arose over the parking in the area. Bonefish is sharing a lot with the HSBC Bank next door (both properties have the same landlord), and the bank abuts a municipal lot. Bonefish argued that, because it had a license agreement for the bank lot, that it effectively abutted the municipal lot and was eligible to have its parking requirement waived (village law required 54 parking spaces for the building). The village disagreed, and ordered that Bonefish needed to employ valets and that they could not park customers’ cars in a municipal lot.

Nearby businesses owners and Rockville Centre residents applauded the BZA decision. They said that parking in the municipal field Bonefish was attached to was already difficult, if not impossible, and adding more daytime parkers would just make things worse. They also cited the restaurant’s original agreement with the village, which said that it wouldn’t be opening for lunch — a claim which Zapson denied was ever made.