Westhampton Beach Viilage Board Considers Approval of Proposed Mill Road Medical Office

The Westhampton Beach Village Board is expected to grant a special exception application from the developers of 87 Sunset LLC — where the CVS store is located — to pave the way for a medical office currently being constructed in the plaza.

The board, at a meeting on August 3, also approved changes to the village code having to do with outdoor dining, site plan procedures and nonconforming uses. The nonconforming use change had to do with allowing golf courses to expand on-site employee housing.

Also at the meeting, neighbors of Sydney’s “Taylor” Made Cuisine continued to express their frustration at the ongoing operation of a new unpermitted sushi restaurant at the Mill Road eatery, despite enforcement actions taken by the village.

Medical Office

The medical office, which will be operated by NYU Langone Health, marks a departure from plans previously approved for the 1.8-acre plaza that once contained the Westhampton Bowl bowling alley.

The 6,000-square-foot two-story commercial building currently being constructed — phase two of the project — will be occupied solely by the medical office. Plans had originally called for the building to contain three retail/office spaces, and current village code prohibits any use from exceeding 3,000 square feet. The 20,000-square-foot building containing the CVS and other businesses — phase one — was granted special exceptions several years ago.

According to Westhampton Beach attorney James Hulme, who is representing the developers, Sunset West LLC, because the medical office will require additional parking under village zoning, a third building, a 1,500-square-foot commercial building dubbed phase three, was dropped from the plan.

The medical use, as opposed to office or retail use, requires more parking, Hulme noted, than the original phase two plan required. “We need 10 more spots than was originally approved for that site,” he said. “We’ve achieved that number — and actually exceeded that number in a couple of ways.”

By eliminating the phase three building, it reduced the parking load on the building by six spots, he said. Additionally, the area where the third building would have sat will be converted to nine or 10 additional parking spots.

“We end up being over by four,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ll have more than the required parking.”

Board members said they would okay the permit at a future meeting, and the site plan for the proposed medical building will still require Planning Board approval.

“I like the fact that we’re eliminating one extra building,” board member Rob Rubio said.

Code Changes

The board passed a number of changes to the village code, intended to streamline some processes when developers file building applications with the village.

Changes to the site plan procedure in the village will now allow the Planning Board to approve a plan conditionally, pending an okay from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. Previously, a site plan could not be approved until the health department signed off, delaying the issuance of a building permit, Hammond said. He noted that the permit would not be issued until the county approved the plan, but it would no longer be tied up before the Planning Board.

Additionally, site plan approvals would be good for one year — or two years, at the discretion of the Planning Board, and two separate one-year extensions could be granted if a building permit is not issued in that time. There had been some discussion amongst the board of offering two year extensions, but Mayor Maria Moore said she felt a total of three (or four) years would be sufficient, and the board agreed. If a building permit is not issued once the extensions run out, the applicant would need to refile their application and pay new application fees.

“We wanted to streamline the process with the Planning Board,” Hammond said. “These policies will make us more efficient and in line with what other municipalities do.”

The code that deals with preexisting nonconforming uses in the village was updated in an effort to allow the Westhampton Country Club (or any golf course with preexisting housing) to double the space allowed for employee housing on the course — without increasing the number employees allowed to live there. The code change is designed to allow the course — which is planning a major overhaul next year — to bring the housing up to modern standards and current code requirements.

“It’s not adding to the number of occupants,” Moore noted. “It’s just allowing for more space.”

“It’s the same amount of persons,” Hammond said, “but now maybe those persons would have a more dignified living quarters — bathrooms, hallways, two exits.”

Also, the board tweaked the code regarding the seasonal placement of outdoor tables and chairs at restaurants in the village to eliminate Planning Board review of those applications and leave the permitting up to the Village Board. The change was intended to streamline the process, Hammond said, noting that the Planning Board saw its review as perfunctory, knowing the final decision rested with the Village Board.

“In my estimation, over the last several years here, it has just been a little dysfunctional,” he said. The Planning Board has been very busy with site plans and so forth, he said, and these applications were not getting the level of review they deserved. “You all refer it, they aren’t paying close attention and it comes back to you. I just feel this is quicker and easier for the applicant. It’s more direct.”

“The Planning Board adds another layer of review that’s not necessarily called for when it’s a seasonal permit,” Moore agreed.

Taylor’s Sushi Suite

During the public comment portion of the meeting, village resident Kim Wolfersdorf, who lives adjacent to Sydney’s “Taylor” Made Cuisine on Mill Road, spoke, she said, on behalf of a number of neighboring residents who have continued to object to an unlicensed sushi restaurant that the owner of Sydney’s, Erin Finley, opened on the second floor of the luncheonette in May.

Finley was cited for opening the new eatery without a necessary revision to her site plan, and without county health department or state liquor authority approval. A stop-work order was issued by the village in May, but Finley has been operating the 12-seat restaurant in defiance of the order while she has sought to bring the restaurant to code and seek the proper county and state permits.

Neighbors claim the new venture is problematic, and have filed numerous police reports complaining about excessive noise and the violation of the stop work order.

Wolfersdorf implored the board for some kind of relief, and charged that the body was ineffectual in enforcing the village code.

“They’ve been in operation for three months now and are no closer to compliance than when this started and can’t even get on the agenda for the next Planning Board meeting,” she said. “I can’t decide what’s worse, your actions or inaction on this matter. This is a major F-U to the businesses in this village who have made their applications prior to expanding or opening their businesses and then waited for approval.”

She noted that the village had cited the business, 43 Mill LLC, for illegal use, and that Finley had paid a $1,500 fine, but the business continues to operate without the approvals — which she described as just the cost of doing business.

“When are you going to back residents as vigorously as you do business?” Wolfersdorf asked. “When are you going to do something about this?”

Wolfersdorf asked Moore why the business was not being issued violations for every day it is open, to which the mayor replied that that’s not how the village typically operates, and that the goal is to get businesses into compliance with the code. She did note, however, that a second violation was issued last week.

“What I’m always told by our Building Department is that the goal is to get compliance.” Moore said. “We want them to come in and go before the Planning Board and get what they need. She’s working her way through it.

“We want to get compliance,” Moore added, “and until we get compliance, tickets will be issued.”

The mayor, as well as Village Attorney Steve Angel, said in response to a question from Wolfersdorf, that it would be unlikely that the village could meet the burden to have a judge issue a temporary restraining order to have the restaurant shut down.

Deputy Mayor Ralph Urban urged the neighbors to continue to call the police with complaints about noise and violations of the stop-work order.

“You call the police, the police will come,” he said. “The police will document it. It will go to our village prosecutor. Our village prosecutor will take it to court, and we will prosecute the violation.

“Over the course of time, hopefully, she’ll come into compliance and these things will be resolved,” he added. “There is an issue, but it’s not quickly or easily resolved. There is a process, and we are pursuing the process.”