7-Eleven Still on Hold
Whether a 7-Eleven, or anything else for that matter, opens in the former Villa Prince Ristorante in Amagansett is off the table, and on the back burner, after a hearing in front of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday.
The owner of the property, Richard Principi, entered into an agreement with 7-Eleven to convert the long-vacant building to a convenience store operating under the chain’s rubric in February of this year, after many months of discussions. He was before the board on Tuesday to appeal a 2014 decision by Tom Preiato, the former chief building inspector for the town, that requires site plan approval from the town before any changes to the building can be made.
The presentation made by Mr. Principi’s representative, Alfred Amato, never seemed to get off the ground during the less than one-hour hearing. Mr. Amato presented the board with a half-inch-thick stack of documents before the meeting began, said the board’s chairman, John Whelan, and then accused the board and the town of withholding documents from him.
In response, Elizabeth Baldwin, as well as several board members, told Mr. Amato that he needed to come to the board’s office and examine the files.
The board raised multiple questions about the property. One issue was the question of illegal clearing that was said to have been done at some point between 2007 and 2010. Mr. Amato asked how the town could know that, to which Ms. Baldwin responded that the town has aerial photographs.
Whether the subdivision that created the property was ever finalized was also discussed, as well as the question of whether changing the site from a restaurant to a convenience store constituted a change of use under the town’s code.
Mr. Amato also challenged a town law that requires a special permit for what it defines as “formula stores.”
Several Amagansett residents were on hand, as was Frances Cirillo, the owner of Cirillo’s Market I.G.A., which is two properties west of the Principi lot.
“I was on the planning board from 1988 to 1998. Every time this property came in, we always thought we would see the paperwork. We never got our hands on it,” Pat Mansir told the board.
Rona Klopman held up a photograph of the parking lot in front of the vacant building. The lot was filled with cars, as it is on a daily basis. According to Ms. Klopman, Gurney’s Inn is leasing the lot, where, she said, its employees park before being bused to the resort on Old Montauk Highway.
In the end, the only thing the board and the applicant could agree to was that all concerned needed more time to examine documents and that the public hearing should be continued at a future date.
While technically that could happen as soon as 60 days from Tuesday, the reality is, Mr. Whelan explained, the board’s calendar is filled through October.