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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Village Board Stands by River Bank Agreement
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| Restaurant owner Missere addresses the village boa |
May 15, 2007
The new outdoor eating patio at The River Bank restaurant and a planned parking lot nearby were the focus of a long discussion at the Village Board work session on Monday night.
The four trustees stood by the board’s decision in March to allow the stone wall and patio to be built on village property and two members described the expansion of the restaurant as a ‘win-win” situation. “Let the restaurant flourish and provide more parking – that’s what we did,” said trustee Mark Edsall.
About 20 people, mostly residents, attended the work session and several praised the stone wall while expressing concerns about the manner in which the project was approved. “I do like the wall. I think it looks very nice,” James Patch, a neighbor of the restaurant, told the board. “I don’t like the way it was put under the table.”
The project was approved at a special meeting of the village board called by Mayor Moulton three days before he left office. Village trustees said they worked with Tony Missere, the restaurant owner, at public meetings in 2006 to revise the patio plans. During those negotiations, the village also changed its requirements, removing the need for the plans to get planning board approval only that of “regulatory agencies.”
At the same time, another set of plans calling for only two tables to be located on the restaurant’s private property were making their way through the planning board approval process. After a public hearing in October, the planning board approved outdoor dining with restrictions.
“We had very specific conditions about sound and lighting that you apparently were not aware of,” the chair of the planning board, Mary Aspin, told the trustees. “Communication between the village board and the planning board was very sad in this instance,”
Although no changes were adopted at Monday’s three-hour-long work session, the trustees discussed applying those same restrictions on lighting, music and hours on the new patio. They also indicated that plans for a parking area down River Avenue from the restaurant could still be modified. Trustee Mark Edsall suggested that fewer parking spots could be added to the gravel lot.
Rob Kirshner and Barbara Gosda questioned whether a need for more public parking really existed, especially during the evening hours when the restaurant is most busy. Gosda also said she was disappointed that the historical nature of that corner was not taken into consideration in the process. Phyllis Pryne, who owns a house abutting the proposed parking lot, criticized the lack of public input in the process.
Trustee Pete Miller countered these claims, saying the project had been discussed for about a year. “There were public meetings,” Miller said. “This was not done in a vacuum.”
He told the public he stands by his decision.
Tony Missere also addressed the board in support of the restaurant expansion, “It benefits the community in an artistic sense and a business sense,” he said. His observation was backed by local resident Teresa Westerduin, who praised the beauty of the restaurant’s stone wall and patio and suggested that the business could have a positive impact on the tax rate.
Mayor Joe Gross listened attentively to the trustees and the public speakers, but he made few comments. The next day he commented on the hearing, saying that while the parking lot is still an unresolved issue, he didn’t believe there was a public desire to dismantle the work that has been done at The River Bank. “I don’t think we can turn back,” Gross said. “It’s regrettable that people didn’t speak out before it was approved.”
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