By Doug Miller
While the site, at 1055 W. Beech St., between Connecticut and Florida avenues, has been empty for over a year, some neighbors voiced concerns that the project could tax the area's already limited parking. Zoning codes demand that an establishment of this size offer 45 off-street spaces, while the application only provides for half that number.
The applicants, identified as the owners of Cooke's Catering Inc. of New York City, need a variance from the city to allow for an outdoor dining deck and to get around the city's required four-customers-per-parking-space limit. Their application, which was presented to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 20, also calls for a number of storage sheds at the rear of the lot, which would not comply with current regulations.
Joe Sinnona, the West End real estate broker who brought the applicants to the site, said he feels the project would become an asset to the neighborhood by sprucing up a blighted lot. "As it exists now, between the kids vandalizing it and people running their dogs through it, it's an eyesore," he said. "It's being portrayed as an example of overdevelopment, but look at Corbin and Reynolds next to Gino's. These guys are family-oriented. The neighbors presented it as a bar with beer cups. It's not. There's only going to be a service bar. I'm for it -- I do business here and grew up here. I'm certainly not for bringing down the community."
But as with all West End projects, the sticking point with the neighbors was parking. "I would love a nice seafood restaurant, right on my block, but where is everyone going to park?" said Joe Mastropietro, a Connecticut Avenue resident. "In the West End we have no place to park in the winter, let alone in the summer." Mastropietro described himself as neutral on the project, however, and did not speak out against the proposal at the Zoning Board meeting because he is not sure a better alternative exists. "If they sell the land and build houses," he said, "they are still going to put two families in each house, bringing two cars with each family."
More than a dozen residents who did speak before the Zoning Board last week spoke against the project, targeting several quality-of-life issues. With regard to parking, Florida Street resident Sarah Flammer told the board, "You can't give away what we don't have." Other neighbors predicted excessive noise and rotten smells from the establishment, while many ridiculed any suggestion that the restaurant would not become just another West End bar.
Cooke's Catering is a partnership of three Manhattan restaurant owners, Robert Seery, Ed Martinson and Sean Ingram. Neither they nor the lot's owner, Henrietta Miller of East Atlantic Beach, would comment. Their attorney, Robert Smith, of Elovich & Adell in Long Beach, testified to zoning commissioners that the restaurant would be family-oriented. He noted that the plan's proposed bar would be nothing more than a 10-foot service bar.
"In every bar and restaurant in the West End, the bar is in a prominent place," Smith said. "In these plans, you'd be hard-pressed to find where the bar is." Smith added that the owners had no intention of pursuing a liquor license, and would limit their sale of alcohol to beer and wine.
In the spring and summer, Seery told the board, the restaurant would be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., then close for two days a week in the off-season. While the proposal indicates the restaurant could hold more than 160 seats, Seery said it would realistically only serve about 60 people indoors and another 45 outdoors.
Scott Kemins, Long Beach buildings commissioner, said this was the first application for the site to come across his desk since the produce market closed in 2002. Years ago the lot held a gasoline station. The underground storage tanks are believed to still be there, according to Kemins. "There was a discussion to bring Roslyn Savings Bank in, but there were concerns about the tanks," he said.
While as many as 15 people spoke out against the project at the Zoning Board meeting, at least one Connecticut Avenue resident is solidly in favor of it. "I just want them to do something with it, build something or knock it down or condemn it," said Gene Demerest. "I'm just tired of looking at it. I'm not a dreamer. I bought a house on a residential block near a commercial strip. Something should go there.
"I can tell you it wouldn't look like this if it was on a city council member's block."
[ITAL] Keith Grant contributed to this article.
