Neighbors making noise in Jamesport about proposed venue expansion
Dimon Estate, formerly known as Jamesport Manor Inn, wants to add a more than 6,000-square-foot dining and catering room Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
A proposal to expand a Jamesport restaurant by adding a more than 6,000-square-foot dining and catering room is being met with resistance from residents who say the project would increase noise, safety and traffic problems they say the business has created in the area.
Dimon Estate, formerly known as Jamesport Manor Inn, is seeking a special permit from the Riverhead Town Board to build the extension on facility's 3.1-acre Manor Lane property.
The addition would include covered and uncovered patio areas along with site improvements such as a pedestrian corridor and a breezeway passage.
If the Riverhead Town Board approves the special permit, the property owners also would need a site plan approval from the town's Planning Board for the proposed expansion.
The town and the property owners, Kar-McVeigh LLC, are involved in long-standing litigation that is pending in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County.
Court records show the town sued Kar-McVeigh in 2021 seeking a restraining order barring the property owner from holding any outdoor catering events or weddings that used loud sound or music and prohibiting any tents on the premises.
Then Kar-McVeigh sued the town's Zoning Board of Appeals in 2022 to try to overturn the board's ruling that year rejecting a site plan application for a tent and a new building to use in catering events.
The town claims the property owners have allowed weddings and other outdoor catered events to take place for years on the property without securing special permits that town code requires.
However, that litigation is now at a standstill so the property owners can apply for the special permit to expand the restaurant, according to town officials and attorney Charles Cuddy, who represents the property owners.
Last week residents who spoke at a public hearing on the proposed expansion urged the town to reject the application. Most said allowing such a project would add to long-standing traffic and noise problems the restaurant creates in the surrounding Jamesport neighborhood.
Donna L. Zaweski, whose home is 1,500 feet from the restaurant, said she has endured noise from its events for years.
“For the past five years, my ability to enjoy my backyard on weekends and near-weekends from the months of May through October has been taken away from me by the hosting of endless weddings and events with extremely amplified music,” Zaweski said at the hearing.
Manor Lane resident Bonnie Schmidt told the board that approving the application would "set a terrible precedent in this town.”
She added: “Even when inside our home, we cannot get way from the noise, the music and our windows vibrating — all caused from these events."
Cuddy said in an interview Tuesday that noise-mitigating measures such as soundproof glass will be part of the expansion to reduce noise levels from the restaurant. Additionally, Cuddy said, the applicants will produce sound and traffic studies for the property before it returns to the board for another public hearing that is scheduled for June.
Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said in an interview Tuesday that town board members will have to consider the issue carefully because their votes could set a precedent.
“This is something we have to carefully look at because we can’t have every restaurant doubling and tripling their size and not looking at the environment and the community,” Aguiar said. “It could be dangerous if we go forward with it.”
A proposal to expand a Jamesport restaurant by adding a more than 6,000-square-foot dining and catering room is being met with resistance from residents who say the project would increase noise, safety and traffic problems they say the business has created in the area.
Dimon Estate, formerly known as Jamesport Manor Inn, is seeking a special permit from the Riverhead Town Board to build the extension on facility's 3.1-acre Manor Lane property.
The addition would include covered and uncovered patio areas along with site improvements such as a pedestrian corridor and a breezeway passage.
If the Riverhead Town Board approves the special permit, the property owners also would need a site plan approval from the town's Planning Board for the proposed expansion.
The town and the property owners, Kar-McVeigh LLC, are involved in long-standing litigation that is pending in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County.
Court records show the town sued Kar-McVeigh in 2021 seeking a restraining order barring the property owner from holding any outdoor catering events or weddings that used loud sound or music and prohibiting any tents on the premises.
Then Kar-McVeigh sued the town's Zoning Board of Appeals in 2022 to try to overturn the board's ruling that year rejecting a site plan application for a tent and a new building to use in catering events.
The town claims the property owners have allowed weddings and other outdoor catered events to take place for years on the property without securing special permits that town code requires.
However, that litigation is now at a standstill so the property owners can apply for the special permit to expand the restaurant, according to town officials and attorney Charles Cuddy, who represents the property owners.
Last week residents who spoke at a public hearing on the proposed expansion urged the town to reject the application. Most said allowing such a project would add to long-standing traffic and noise problems the restaurant creates in the surrounding Jamesport neighborhood.
Donna L. Zaweski, whose home is 1,500 feet from the restaurant, said she has endured noise from its events for years.
“For the past five years, my ability to enjoy my backyard on weekends and near-weekends from the months of May through October has been taken away from me by the hosting of endless weddings and events with extremely amplified music,” Zaweski said at the hearing.
Manor Lane resident Bonnie Schmidt told the board that approving the application would "set a terrible precedent in this town.”
She added: “Even when inside our home, we cannot get way from the noise, the music and our windows vibrating — all caused from these events."
Cuddy said in an interview Tuesday that noise-mitigating measures such as soundproof glass will be part of the expansion to reduce noise levels from the restaurant. Additionally, Cuddy said, the applicants will produce sound and traffic studies for the property before it returns to the board for another public hearing that is scheduled for June.
Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said in an interview Tuesday that town board members will have to consider the issue carefully because their votes could set a precedent.
“This is something we have to carefully look at because we can’t have every restaurant doubling and tripling their size and not looking at the environment and the community,” Aguiar said. “It could be dangerous if we go forward with it.”
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Gilgo-related search continues ... Huntington subdivision lawsuit ... LI home sales ... Vintage office equipment
