Restaurateur pitches plans to Planning Board
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

Fair Haven

FAIR HAVEN - After giving an informal presentation to the borough's Planning Board on Oct. 11 on a plan to provide an area with seating outside his restaurant for the use of smokers, the owner of the Nauvoo Grill Club said he would not pursue a request for board approval of the proposal.

"They don't seem to be too interested" in the plan, restaurateur Richard Bahadurian said as he left the meeting, referring to the board's comments on the presentation.

Board members questioned the removal of parking spaces to make room for the chairs or benches that Bahadurian suggested for the smokers.

The restaurant owner said that "they [the smokers] used to smoke in the lounge," but were no longer permitted to do so because of state law.

Bahadurian said that summers, when the smoking area would be most used, are the slower times at his restaurant, when less parking is needed.

Board member John Christie said there "always had been a concern with parking" for the restaurant, located on Fair Haven Road next to a residential area.

The removal of parking spaces to make room for chairs or tables would "aggravate an already difficult parking situation," he said.

Only one board member expressed any support for the plan.

Doug Anderson said that "the state created the problem," and "people are going to want to smoke."

The need to provide a space outside for smokers did not exist when the application for approval of the restaurant was originally made, he said.

Prior to the presentation on the smoking area at Nauvoo, Bahadurian also gave an informal presentation on plans to renovate and add on to a building on 770 River Road, around the corner from his restaurant.

Matthew Cronin, Red Bank, an architect representing Bahadurian, said that his client wanted to keep the "main body" of the colonial building while expanding it.

He said the existing partial second floor would be retained and expanded so there would be two small offices there.

Bahadurian said that the alterations would be made to make the building attractive and "restore the lines of a colonial house."

He said he would like to keep the Fairwinds Deli in the building and hoped to have other boutique businesses such as an ice cream parlor and with tables both outside and inside.

Board Attorney David Cramer said that the plans presented by Cronin sounded as if the additions would bring the building to around 4,600 square feet.

He said he knew the lot was being discussed and it was 50 by 162 feet, which would mean that the changes would seem to bring the structure "well over" the 40 percent coverage allowed under borough law.

If this were the case, the application should be brought before the town's Zoning Board, Cramer said, not to the Planning Board.