By Scott Brinton
The board said that the developer proposing the eatery, Tito A. Restaurant Corp., failed to properly notify the community about its intentions, and that its variance application appeared to contain errors. So the board would not consider the matter.
Gerald Wright, the zoning board chairman, said, "The main thing I was concerned with is that [Tito A. Restaurant Corp.] did not sit down with the community. And that is something I will not tolerate."
Wright insisted that the developer hold a community meeting as soon as possible in the evening, so anyone who is interested in learning more about plans for the restaurant and bar can attend. "The members of the community have to know what's going on in their community," Wright emphasized.
Tito A. Restaurant Corp. is proposing construction of a Meson Ole! eatery at the old Java Coffee, at Merrick Road and Montauk Avenue, less than a quarter-mile west of Babylon Road, a short block that serves as the entrance to Levy-Lakeside Elementary School.
A dozen mostly Babylon Road and Montauk Avenue residents turned out at the zoning board hearing to show opposition to the restaurant and bar. They worry about increased traffic congestion that the proposed eatery may cause at two already busy corners -- Babylon Road and Montauk Avenue.
They noted that just as bar-goers would be flocking to the Meson Ole! for Friday-afternoon happy hour, after-school activities would be dismissing from Levy-Lakeside, and Little Leaguers would be making their way to the elementary school's fields.
In an interview at the Board of Zoning Appeals, Eileen Riebe, who moved to the area in 1969, said the restaurant and bar "would just congest matters all the more. ... The corner is congested now."
Montauk Avenue resident Michele Trageser said that if the new establishment were to go up, "The accidents will be out of control. It's not just the schools. There are a lot games" at Levy-Lakeside. "Think about all the soccer games and baseball games."
Fellow Montauk Avenue resident Jennifer Travaglione, the mother of two, worries about parking. "The communal property there doesn't have sufficient parking" to support a restaurant and bar. "To add more cars to that would be a real problem," she said.
Wayne Edwards, legal counsel to New York state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican of Merrick, is working with residents to oppose the Meson Ole! Edwards said the developer has only 51 spots for the proposed restaurant. According to town code, it needs 67 spaces. Edwards added that his research indicates the developer may need as many as 75 spaces. Wright also said that the developer would need a minimum 10-foot front yard setback from Merrick Road, which it doesn't have.
Community opposition to the Meson Ole! is quickly growing. Leading the charge is Al Belbol, a Babylon Turnpike resident and Levy-Lakeside PTA Executive Board member. Belbol said that compromise with Tito A. Restaurant Corp. is out of the question. "We don't want this, and it's not going to happen," he said.
Belbol is collecting petition signatures against the Meson Ole! He has also gained the support of Levy-Lakeside's PTA, which drafted a letter to the zoning board opposing the restaurant and bar. The Merrick-North Merrick Little League is also voicing its opposition.
Levy-Lakeside's principal, Dr. John Kohnken, is against the eatery plan. Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg said he opposes the business as well. He personally delivered a letter on Nassau County stationery to the zoning board last Wednesday. In it, he wrote that the Meson Ole! "would have a serious negative impact on the safety, environment and market values in this area. Alcoholic consumption related to a restaurant/bar in the immediate vicinity of a school and residential area should be minimized."
Michele Chernet, a Babylon Road resident and Levy-Lakeside PTA co-president, said she plans to take the matter before the Merrick Board of Education to gain its support in opposing the Meson Ole! She has already met with Merrick Superintendent Dr. Rainer Melucci.
The site of the proposed Meson Ole! has changed a number of times over the years. During the late 1960s, it was a small convenience store called The Bucket, which sold beer, cigarettes and milk. In the 1970s it became a Kentucky Fried Chicken, then a Pizza Hut and finally Java Coffee, which went out of business recently after surviving two years.
Over the phone, a spokesperson for Meson Ole! declined to comment about the eatery's zoning variance application, but said the restaurant was seeking a state liquor license. An attorney for the restaurant told the zoning board last week that Meson Ole! representatives would schedule a community meeting and fix any incorrect information in its variance application before resubmitting it to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
