Cyril's Fish House Liquor License To Be Cancelled

The State Liquor Authority on Tuesday, August 12, decided to cancel Cyril’s Fish House’s liquor license, dealing a blow to the Napeague restaurant and bar, which is already involved in an ongoing battle with East Hampton Town to remain a summer hot spot.

Dianne LeVerrier, the attorney representing Cyril’s, said it’s unlikely that the State Liquor Authority would take the license away immediately. Even so, Cyril Fitzsimons, who owns the business, said on Thursday, August 14, that he was surprised to find out last week that he would be losing the license.

“Nobody told me nothin’,” he said in his Irish lilt. “It has cost me a quarter of a million dollars out of my f------ pocket to fight this for three years. It’s just harassment.”

The SLA board took issue with the 83 town regulations that Cyril’s is accused of violating. According to East Hampton Town officials, among them were the lack of site plan approvals and having no certificate of occupancy for certain structures on the site, as well as not getting permission from the State Liquor Authority for changes made to the bar and restaurant.

In its notice to Cyril’s, the SLA said that the establishment had transfered its liquor license to a space at the front of the licensed premises without the SLA’s permission, and that it operated more than one stand-up bar on the premises, again, without permission.

Two of the three SLA board members voted for the order of cancellation, while the chairman, Dennis Rosen, voted to revoke the license. A revocation is a more serious action that would prevent the restaurant from applying for a new liquor license for two years.

“That order of cancellation doesn’t take effect for a few weeks, and we intend to appeal that decision as well,” Ms. LeVerrier said last Wednesday afternoon. “They’re not coming out today and, in all likelihood, [the SLA] will not come out at all.”

Despite his attorney’s remarks, Mr. Fitzsimons was disturbed by the ordeal on Thursday morning. Sitting at a back table in his restaurant on Napeague—a table covered in magazines, papers, George W. Bush’s book “Decision Points,” and a pack of Marlboros—he said he believes the Town Board doesn’t want his business there, period, and that that will hurt his 28 employees.

“Every complaint, I’ve fixed,” he said, explaining that he spent $21,000 on rewiring the establishment. “I don’t know why they’re picking on me. I close at 9 p.m., there’s never been any Health Department violations ... there’s never been an accident outside [on Montauk Highway] in the 23 years I’ve been here. ... What is the problem?”

According to Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, there are a lot of problems, but they all stem from one thing. “I think it’s simply about following the rules and laws we have in the town and in the state,” he said this week. “When you have a state liquor license, you’re obligated to follow their requirements, and obviously in this case that’s not what’s been happening.”

The argument from Cyril’s side is that the town’s Code Enforcement Department referred to old violations from 2012, which had been dismissed by East Hampton Town Justice Lisa Rana, according to Ms. LeVerrier.

And to settle whether the business is legally operating with a certificate of occupancy it has from the 1960s, which was for a gas station and snack bar, the town and Cyril’s have gone to State Supreme Court. The town alleges that Cyril’s has expanded its business without required building permits and certificates of occupancy and has operated over the years in an inappropriate zoning district.

The zoning for the site was changed from commercial to residential in 1984, and the existing improvements and structures there were considered nonconforming but pre-existing and therefore legal. Any additional improvements that expanded the size or intensity of use would be illegal without the requisite approvals. At the time of the zoning change, the spot was being used as a small restaurant.

Attorney Joseph Prokop, who represents East Hampton Town, said last week in a phone interview that last week’s SLA decision was “the final stage in a process that has been lengthy and gone on pending for some time.”

On August 12, when speaking at the SLA Board’s meeting, he said he was in favor of a revocation or cancellation of the liquor license.

“When I looked at the file for the Supreme Court case, the subpoena from the State Liquor Authority, it said the license was renewed every year,” he said. “The operator was swearing under oath that the premises was properly zoned ... and I believe you weren’t aware of the fact they had already pleaded guilty to not being legally zoned.”

Ms. LeVerrier said the Dioguardi family, which owns the property, will appeal the decision and that once that is done, there will be a stay in the cancellation during the appeals process.

Nonetheless, the SLA is adamant about keeping Cyril’s from serving alcohol until its proprietors show they’ve been abiding with the law.

“Clearly, there’s been a longtime disrespect displayed by the licensee. Just confining ourselves to the minutes of the hearing, the way they keep doing whatever they wanted to do, and there may be arguable defense to some of these things, but it’s clear they don’t answer to anybody,” SLA Chairman Dennis Rosen said at last Tuesday night’s meeting. “That scares me because there are people drinking alcohol. They’re wandering onto the highway ... I’ve been out there and this could create very a dangerous situation, and the one thing the board has to do is protect the safety of the public.”