SOUTHWICK — At the Planning Board’s last public hearing, the decision to modify Crepes Tea House’s special permit to allow dining in one of its three outbuildings and add an ADA ramp to it was delayed because of questions raised by the fire chief about how to define the structures.
That question was answered at Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning Board, but the seating arrangement between the main building and the outbuilding continues to be a sticking point. The restaurant at 157 Feeding Hills Road has a seating capacity of 93, which is dictated by its available parking spaces and to ensure the septic system can handle the capacity.
“I’m going to digest this a bit more and make sure that everybody is on the same page. I would like for our interim health director to make sure that she is comfortable and that we come up with an idea that might work,” said Planning Board chair Jessica Thornton, referring to the seating capacity for the restaurant at the conclusion of another public hearing on Crepes’ request.
Earlier this year, Crepes’ owner Art Ribinskas asked the board to modify its special permit to allow it to use one of its outbuildings to seat 20 diners, and he and his consultant, Steve Salvini of Salvini Associates, proposed moving those seats out of the restaurant when the outbuilding has been reserved for a gathering.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Salvini was more specific about the seating arrangements.
He said the outbuilding — which he calls a gazebo — would only be used between April 1 and Oct. 31 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
“On April 1, if they have somebody that wants to reserve 20 chairs in the gazebo, Art and his very talented staff will simply remove 20 chairs from the restaurant,” Salvini said.
When the gazebo is not in use, it will be locked and secured and basically become a “storage shed,” he said.
During the hearing, interim Health Director Caileen Simonds described a conversation she had with former Health Director Tom Hibert about the seating.
She said Hibert said the restaurant’s final proposal was to “permanently remove all of the seats from the bar area and to relocate to the [outbuilding], assuming that it’s true and their seats do not exceed the capacity of [93], the Board of Health would not need to vote on the matter.”
However, at Crepes’ last hearing, Salvini said it was his understanding that the seat arrangement wasn’t permanent but a “consideration.”
Thornton then asked Simonds for clarification, needing it, she said, because in previous correspondence from Hibert, he said he would not approve of the seats being moved back and forth.
Simonds said she didn’t have that in writing.
“This would be a trusting exercise to ensure that those seats are going in and out,” she said.
At that hearing, there was also discussion about the deck area, which has a seating capacity of 20 seats.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Salvini said the deck capacity wouldn’t be an issue because it’s too cold between Oct. 1 and April 1 for outdoor seating.
Board member David Spina pressed Salvini on how the seats would be moved from the restaurant to the outbuilding, to which he responded.
“So, when the gazebos [are] in use, as is going to be required because of the nature of this, they are going to have to remove 20 seats out of there physically [which Ribinskas] has the staff do,” Salvini said.
“Physically removed?” Spina asked, to which Salvini answered yes.
Thornton also read a letter submitted to the board by Richard Grannells, the chair of the Lake Management Committee.
He said the LMC had concerns about the buildings, which have been built on stilts in a flood plain and designated wetland. He said they could break free and block the upstream side of the Great Brook bridge under Feeding Hills Road.
Salvini said the Conservation Commission approved the buildings because they were built above the potential high-water mark along Great Brook, which snakes along the eastern side of the property.
Thornton reminded Salvini that the ramps needed for the outbuilding had to be ADA-compliant and would be in the floodplain, which would have to be approved by the Conservation Commission, something he acknowledged.
Diane Juzba, who is a Planning Board member, recused herself from participating in the debate or voting on the permit request because she abuts the restaurant’s property.
“I have a lot of concerns about the seating capacity, because I have concerns about whether or not they should be policed to see if they can indeed actually take the seating out when they say they’re going to take the seating out,” Juzba said, adding that it was her understanding Hibert thought the seating split should be permanent.
One Granville Road resident questioned whether Ribinskas could be trusted, which was one of the themes at the board’s meeting on Nov. 18, because he had allegedly built the structures without a building permit, which prompted Thornton to address that issue.
“…the buildings were built with a permit from the Building Department. They did receive Conservation Commission approval to place the buildings there. They did not have approval from this board, which is the land use board for use of the buildings, and they have not been used because they do not have that permit,” Thornton said.
Select Board member Diane Gale asked if there were other restaurants in town with flexible seating arrangements, to which Thornton answered.
“That I don’t know off the top of my head for sure if that happens, but the question of the seats moving at this particular location has to do with the elderly septic tank that has its limitations and its adjacency to the wetlands, which makes the amount of seats being filled at any given time point of higher concern for the Health and Building departments,” she said.
Salvini closed by saying it wasn’t Ribinskas’ intention to increase the seating capacity of the restaurant.
“It’s just an opportunity to have private dinners outdoors in a gazebo from April 1 to Oct. 31 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
Thornton said if there was no new information, she expected the public hearing would be closed at the board’s next meeting on Jan. 6.
