Art Ribinskas, the owner of Crepes Tea House at 157 Feeding Hills Road, has applied to the Planning Board to modify its special permit to allow it to use the outbuilding, also called a gazebo, for outdoor dining.
Reminder Publishing file photo
SOUTHWICK — Before the Planning Board tackled a request by Art Ribinskas, the owner of Crepes Tea House, to continue outdoor cooking once a week at his restaurant on Feeding Hills Road, he had to answer why there had been two complaints about it over the last few months.
“Frankly, I’m irritated that I’ve got any notifications in front of me that you’ve been outside of the special permit,” said Planning Board Chair Jessica Thornton to Ribinskas.
Thornton wesd referring to the board being notified of a safety violation by the Fire and Health departments and a complaint that Crepes had cooked outdoors twice in one week when it is only allowed once a week on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
The safety violation occurred on Sept. 11, which was a Thursday, when the Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Officer Brian Scheinder contacted the town’s former Health Director Tom Hibert about a report of unpermitted outdoor cooking.
Hibert detailed what happened when he and Schneider arrived at the restaurant.
They asked if any outdoor cooking was taking place, according to the letter.
An employee told them no, but at the time, there was an electric smoker operating inside a trailer and vented to the outside. There was an extension cord used to connect the smoker to an outdoor outlet.
“There were clear safety concerns with the setup,” Hibert wrote, which prompted Schneider to order the smoker be disconnected and the fish being smoked finished in the restaurant.
Ribinskas, admitting fault, guessed that the fish was being prepared for restaurant staff.
“This is something [that] cooks do, it’s not served to the public,” he said, adding that they didn’t consider it a violation because it wasn’t offered to customers.
He also said the employee who told Hibert and Schneider that no one was cooking worked in the restaurant’s office.
“He doesn’t know for sure because he worked in the office,” Ribinskas said.
Thornton then asked if Ribinskas had taken care of the trailer with the smoker inside, which was a safety code violation.
“So, it’s no longer being utilized in the method that was determined to be unsafe … that should be a very easy question,” she said after Ribinskas didn’t immediately respond.
He said yes and that the smoker had been moved to a patio.
Thornton then asked about the complaint about outdoor cooking on two consecutive days.
“I cannot answer right now what happened. I have to ask my staff members,” he said, which Thornton quickly responded to.
“So, you’re saying that your staff didn’t let you know about this violation? This is the first you’re hearing of it?”
He said that it was the first time he had heard of the complaint.
“[It] was news for me, for sure,” Ribinskas said, which Thornton responded to a few minutes later.
“I’m very upset that … you don’t know about it. Your staff should be telling you immediately when you get a visit from the Health Department about a violation of your special permit,” she said.
He then said that the day after the smoker is used, it is cleaned using fire, typically a propane torch, to burn off the grease and residue.
Later in the meeting, board member David Spina understood that heat is used to clean ovens and even smokers.
“But recognize that it is inherently creating smoke … [it’s] definitely going to be perceived as cooking,” he said.
Board member Jason Grunwald reminded Ribinskas that his permit for outdoor cooking expired on Dec. 24. He wanted to know if there had been any since then.
Grunwald said he had driven by the restaurant “the last two weekends” and saw smoke.
Ribinskas said there was no outdoor cooking last week. He didn’t answer if he had the week before.
The reason for that, he said, was because he and staff hadn’t checked the expiration date of the permit because of the holidays.
“As soon as we catch up. OK. We have to check when the permit is over,” he said.
He then asked for a sign that he could post inside the restaurant to remind the staff of the expiration date.
Thornton said she was sure his staff could do that, then added, “You know, it’s very much on you to abide by whatever special permit, whether it’s an official special permit modification or something that’s granted to you by this board out of generosity and consideration,” she said, reminding him that he is currently in the public hearing phase of a special permit modification to allow the restaurant to use one of its three outbuildings for outdoor dining.
The hearing on the permit modification was continued during the meeting while awaiting a decision by the Board of Health on how seats between the dining room and outbuilding will be allocated.
As the discussion wound down, Thornton said Ribinskas offered a “rationale for why these incidents happened. Don’t let it happen again.”
The board then voted unanimously to continue to allow Ribinskas to cook outside once a week between Friday and Saturday until June 1.
