Great Neck joins widening municipal effort against hookah bars

New hookah lounges are banned from the Village of Great Neck -- the latest in a growing number of Long Island municipalities to bar or temporarily prohibit such businesses.

And village officials have scheduled a hearing next week to address allegations that the owners of the lone hookah lounge approved before the ban misrepresented the business in their application.

The ban on premises that allow on-site smoking was passed last week; the decision comes after the village condensed its downtown business district and three years after smoking was banned on public sidewalks.

"We have now condensed our business district to make it more walkable and felt it was not an appropriate use of our downtown," Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said.

Other municipalities, such as the City of Glen Cove in July and the Village of Great Neck Estates in August, have forbidden businesses that offer on-site smoking. Great Neck Plaza last November imposed a moratorium on businesses that derive revenue from smoking on-site -- and this summer extended that prohibition until May.

Trustees in 2013 granted a conditional use permit for the Fountain Blue Hookah Lounge, now operating on Middle Neck Road. Minutes from the public hearing in which the application was heard note "the smoking involves dried fruits, rather than tobacco."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines hookahs as water pipes used to smoke specially made -- usually flavored -- tobacco. Like cigarettes, hookahs provide addictive nicotine and are at least as toxic as cigarette smoking, the CDC says.

The village has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to determine whether the business owners have fulfilled the pledges made in their application.

In an August letter to the building owner and tenant, Great Neck Pavilion Associates LLC, and Fanous Restaurant Corp., village officials wrote that the hearing would "determine whether material misrepresentations" were made "by or on behalf of the applicant."

Village officials wrote that the lounge was supposed to "be 'quiet and sedate,' " not " 'loud and active.' "

Officials alleged that the applicant said "the music would not be loud, but would be 'background music' so people could talk."

Village officials also said the lounge was not to offer "a full menu . . . or [be] like a restaurant."

Village officials wrote that "each of said representations was untrue and that the hookah lounge has not been operating in accordance with the operational representations so made."

Benjamin Pourat, owner of the lounge, said in a phone interview that he was unaware of Tuesday's hearing and that "we never made any noise; no complaints were ever made."

He also said, "We are not cooking."

Pourat defended the lounge, saying it serves the residents of Great Neck and nearby. "I think it's good for the community . . . a lot of people drive from Long Island to Astoria" in search of hookah lounges.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.