Crepes Tea House request to modify special permit hits snag

SOUTHWICK — A request by Crepes Tea House to modify its special permit to use one of three outbuildings on the property as outdoor dining ran into trouble during the Planning Board’s meeting when the fire chief questioned building’s classification and the chair doubted the veracity of the restaurant’s owner, citing his disregard of past directives from the board.

“You were permitted to do certain thing and we weren’t able to trust you to do that,” board Chair Jessica Thornton said to Crepes’ owner Art Ribinskas during the board’s meeting Tuesday.

She was referring to a decision the board made in March 2024 to allow Ribinskas to smoke meats and cook outside once a week during the spring and summer.

“Mr. Ribinskas says, ‘We’ll do whatever [you] permit’ and we’ve permitted you to cook once a week outside in an approved location, and you haven’t followed that at all times,” Thornton said.

When Ribinskas tried to say he had followed the board’s directives, Thornton cut him off.

“You don’t,” she said.

Earlier this year, Ribinskas asked the board to modify its special permit to allow it to use one of its outbuildings — which he and his consultant Steve Salvini refer to as gazebos, but in fact aren’t — to be used to seat 20 diners.

To accomplish this, an American With Disabilities Act compliant ramp needed to be installed and there needed to be a plan for the restaurant to remain under its 93 person capacity.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Salvini said if the application is approved, a premanufactured aluminum ramp meeting building code standards would be installed at the outbuilding that is closest to the parking lot. It would have a grade of 2.5% which is much less than being less than 8%, and that deck on that outbuilding would be modified for the ramp.

He said that 40 seats would be removed from the restaurant’s dining room, and 20 would be allowed for the attached deck and 20 for the outbuilding during the warmer months.

In case of a fire, he said a fire extinguisher would be placed in the building and, if needed, smoke detectors.

When Thornton asked if board members had questions, David Spina asked Salvini if the use of the outbuilding and deck would be seasonal.

Spina then asked if seats would be moved from the restaurant to the outbuilding and vice versa to accommodate outdoor dining.

While not answering the question directly, Salvini said: “If [the outbuilding] is not in use, they still have a 93-seat capacity.”

He then asked Ribinskas to verify that.

“I mean, we’ll do whatever you guys allow,” Ribinskas said.

Thornton then said what concerned her.

“Our concern isn’t that that’s going to happen,” she said, referring to the 40 seats being moved inside during the winter. “Our concern is that come springtime, 20 more seats are going to go back out to the gazebo, back onto the deck and there will still be 40 additional seats on the inside.”

This was when she raised the idea of trusting Ribinskas.

“Your assurance to us is that you’re going to meet always your 93-seat capacity, because we can trust that you’re going to move seats back and forth,” she said given that he had not followed the board’s requirement to continue outdoor cooking.

Board member Jason Grunwald said he was “on board” with the request if Ribinskas maintained only 93 seats.

And if he didn’t, Grunwald added, “we terminate the special [permit].”

He then referred to a letter by former Health Director Tom Hibert about the seating arrangement, which Diane Juzba described a few minutes later.

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, said Hibert’s letter indicated that moving seats to the outbuilding and deck would have to be permanent.

“He stated that the change would need to be permanent. I wholeheartedly agree with that because I don’t have a lot of faith … that if they move the seats outside and then when it gets cold, they move them back inside … they’re not [going to] change the seating capacity,” she said.

Salvini said later that it was his understanding from Hibert’s letter that the seating arrangement was not mandatory but a “consideration.”

Since Hibert resigned, Caileen Simonds has been appointed interim director.

Thornton told Salvini that she would have Simonds offer a “fresh set of eyes” on the seating arrangement.

Fire Chief Richard Stefanowicz spoke about his issue with using the outbuilding for outdoor dining.

He said he was trying to “classify the building” because it’s “different than what we perceive it to be.”

“Because this is our first engagement with anything like this in town, we’ve deferred to the state [for a definitive ruling],” he said.

He said the state will help with clarifying the building type, its intended use, its occupancy limit, and then any fire safety requirements, “given the layout of the property.”

He asked the board for additional time to get those answers, which Thornton agreed with.

With that, the board voted to continue the public hearing until Dec. 8.