64.0°,
Fog/Mist Another restaurant for Park Avenue?
A possible new restaurant in the village has run into a dilemma, as the Board of Zoning Appeals sees the potential for parking on its property.
The BZA asked the applicants, Christopher Corbett and Paula and Howard Ellman, if they could build a driveway for employee parking on the south side of their property at 24 S. Park Ave. The driveway would lead from Municipal Lot No. 4 behind the building. However, this would take two spaces away from village parking, so the applicants must ask the Department of Public Works for permission.
“You, yourselves, the employees, those are all spots you would be taking up in some municipal lot, someplace,” said BZA Chairman J. Robert Schenone. “Whereas if we can put it behind the house, it just puts that much less load on the municipal lot. Every little bit helps in this town.” The planned restaurant would have seats for 32 customers and five employees.
Schenone and the board estimated that a potential driveway would provide at least four parking spaces — more if there was stacked parking. “The code requires you to have 11 spots,” said BZA member Ray Ventura. “You have room for something, you have to give us something.”
Nearby restaurants do not feel pressed for parking, however. Maura Casey, the manager of The Beach House across the street, said that she did not believe a new restaurant would affect her business because it has parking. “Our customers come in off the train,” said a worker from the Darkhorse Tavern who did not want to give their name. “Parking on the weekend is a nightmare anyway.”
The restaurant — tentatively called 24 Park — would serve oyster and small-plate dishes and be open seven days a week, from 3:30 p.m to 1 a.m. The case will come back to the BZA on April 8, when the applicants will present a site plan with a driveway and the input from the Department of Public Works.
