Upscale Eatery Makes Appeal to Smithtown BZA
Amid parking complaints, zone change could cut into residential area
Photo by Jennifer Klei
By Chad Kushins
March 8, 2012
This month, the owners of popular Smithtown’s upscale sushi steakhouse Insignia are slated to appear before the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Town Board, aiming to gain a zoning change which would expand their property’s parking lot. The restaurant, standing at the former location of Boulder Creek Steakhouse on the corner of Nesconset Highway and Mount Pleasant Road, has already proven popular within the town – enough so that residents and surrounding establishments have begun complaining about the restaurant’s overwhelming parking situation.
“The variance has two major elements,” Assistant Town Planning Director David Flynn explained to Smithtown Matters. “Firstly, the request to set the parking lot from 100 feet down to 50 feet is one part. The second element would be altering what has been deemed ‘environmentally sensitive land’ – which really encompasses the first part of the variance, as putting in the parking lot is the alteration in itself.”
According to the Smithtown Planning Department, the property on which Insignia now lies was already labeled environmentally sensitive due to its current groundwater table of less than 10 feet below the surface. The owners previously received a summons for building an additional gravel parking lot without the granting of necessary permits. The town had stipulated that co-owner Anthony Scotto and his partners leave a 100-foot gap – 50 feet of buffer and 50 feet of easement – between the restaurant and nearby residential properties when approving the building plans, further construction could bring the parking lot closer to the homes in back of the restaurant by half that distance. Upon receiving the summons, the restaurant’s owners filed an application for an area variance to expand the parking lot and reduce the buffer from 100 feet to 50 feet, increasing the restaurant’s parking past what is required under town code.
“The owners are, more than anything else, trying to legalize what they already did,” Flynn added, referring to Insignia’s gravel parking lot addition and their subsequent summons from the Town. “Part of the property was already rezoned. Overall, the property was rezoned so Boulder Creek could originally be built. Things were low-key for a number of years, but when the owners changed the business to ‘Insignia’ and re-opened, they also changed the restaurant’s format … They then came to the BZA for a ‘special exemption’ for outdoor dining.”
Photo by Jennifer KleiFlynn added, “The exemption was granted, the restaurant opened, and the business was so successful that, evidently, the parking lot wasn’t enough. The parking lot meets code, but as the business got busier, residents and other businesses saw cars parking on the grass and across the street in the Friendly’s parking lot … There weren’t enough spots.”
Insignia is owned and operated by more than one investor, including Scotto, one of the original owners of the Boulder Creek Steakhouse which initially stood on Insignia’s spot. Scotto and Mario Sbarro, Boulder Creek’s other founder, ended their business partnership after it closed; Scotto now remains an owner of Insignia with three new partners.
Once closed in 2007, the Boulder Creek structure stood dormant for over two years, until plans for a massive renovation and reconstruction of the business was announced in June of 2010. At that point, residents quickly voiced their concerns over the groundwater impact, as previously, flooding had been a substantial problem during Boulder Creek’s existence on the same property. However, in April of 2011, the Smithtown Town Board unanimously approved Scotto’s site plan for the Insignia construction, which included a 3,011 square foot addition to existing building, increasing the total square footage of the building to 9,960 square feet. An outdoor dining area, measuring 1,751 square feet, was also added to the restaurant – the reason for the owners’ original ‘special exemption’ application.
“When Boulder Creek came in, the original owners had promised us that it would be a low-key restaurant – and it was,” said Larry Vetter, a resident homeowner whose street, Brilner Drive, runs directly behind Insignia. “They did a pretty good job, initially, and even installed the buffer and kept an eye on the groundwater situation.”
According to Vetter, however, circumstances changed when the switch was made from Boulder Creek’s family steakhouse format to Insignia’s upscale reconstruction. “On paper, [Insignia] sounded good as well – a very upper-crust restaurant, some of the same owners. I was sure that the new restaurant would be the same size as the previous one, which hadn’t been much of a problem, but almost immediately, I could tell from the larger size of the building and the noise that parking was going to be an issue.”
Once Insignia opened, Vetter explained, the owner even came to his block and went door-to-door, looking for resident feedback. “To their credit,” said Vetter, “they came around and asked all of us what we thought. Most of us stressed the noise problem and our concerns for the groundwater control and the parking. I mean, at that point, cars were parking everywhere to get inside the place … I’m just concerned that expanding the parking lot further back will remove the standing environmental easement that now exists.”
Vetter continued, “As far as the groundwater, during the winter, it’s not really too much of a concern. In the past, however, spring and fall brought the most problems. In a particularly rainy season, the whole area is impacted.”
According to David Flynn, if the Town Board sees fit to grant Insignia’s owners their variance, they will still need a recommendation from the Smithtown Department of Environment and Waterways, “unless,” said Flynn, “the Board wishes to deny it. Then, no recommendation is needed. But, two approvals are needed to this to go forward – the BZA and the Town Board.”
“From what we know, [Insignia’s owners] are experiencing a severe parking problem, but are trying to ease that as much as possible,” said Smithtown Town Councilman Ed Wehrheim. “What they’re proposing is to ask the Town Board to amend the standing buffer and add approximately 50 new parking spots. Initially, the complaints were about the cars everywhere and I believe that the restaurant owners want to fix that right away … Also, in previous preliminary discussions, it’s been said that they may be required to put in a sound barrier.”
Insignia’s owners could not be reached for comment.
The restaurant’s owners’ request for a variance to make its parking lot a permanent addition will go before the Smithtown Town Board at the regular meeting on March 22nd at the Eugene Cannataro Senior Citizen Center.