Rana Recuses From Rowdy Hall Violation Case, Cites Conflict From Business Relationship

East Hampton Town Justice Lisa Rana on Monday recused herself from overseeing the code violations case against the owners of Rowdy Hall, citing a conflict of interest because of a business relationship, and pushing off the first steps of enforcing town code potentially for several months.

Rana, who is retiring at the end of the year after 20 years on the bench, said that she was recusing herself from the case because the cafe and bakery she opened with her sisters this summer in Amagansett, Bonfire Coffee, sells coffee to the new Rowdy Hall a few doors up the street.

Town Attorney Robert Connelly said that the case would be put on the docket for another judge — Justice Rana will be replaced on the bench by Justice-elect David Filer in January — but likely not until the new year. Rowdy Hall’s attorney, Jon Tarbet, said that the matter has been rescheduled for March.

Rowdy Hall’s owners were cited in early November for not having a building permit for the painting of the front of the restaurant.

The business’s request to paint the frontage of its new building jet black was rejected by the town’s Architectural Review Board — which said it did not fit with the aesthetic guidelines for Amagansett’s historic district laid out in town code. The restaurant’s owners have filed a legal challenge to that determination.

But in the meantime, painters painted the front of the building black. Town Ordinance Enforcement officers quickly issued stop-work orders and tickets for violation of building codes that require ARB approval and a building permit for any exterior modifications to a commercial space. The restaurant opened a few days later, and town officers said the violations issued do not preclude the business from operating behind the offending facade.

The owners have said that the black was simply primer, intended to cover up the previous tenant’s color scheme until Rowdy Hall and the ARB could settle on an acceptable new color combination.

Critics have said the business has exploited a weakness in town code — the inability to stop a business from operating that has violated — and is using the slow revolution of the wheels of justice to forge ahead in violation of code with few consequences beyond lawyers’ fees.

A former councilman, Jeff Bragman, said the town should go to court and seek an injunction to force the un-blackening of the building frontage while the legal challenge to the ARB ruling was adjudicated. Neither Town Board members nor the town attorney’s office have yet indicated they will adopt that approach.