Cyril's Can Open, Judge Says
Cyril's Fish House, the popular roadside restaurant on the Napeague stretch, has received the okay to open this weekend, having cleared a legal hurdle today in New York State Supreme Court in Riverhead when acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti lifted a temporary restraining order that would have required the restaurant to operate in conformance to its layout in the mid 1980s, when the establishment was much smaller.
According to Justice Farneti, the owners of the restaurant had remedied conditions that had posed "imminent danger" to the public that first caused him to issue restraining order on April 12. However, he also fast-tracked the town's lawsuit against the restaurant for operating an illegally expanded business by setting a June 9 date for a hearing.
His action followed the lifting of the stop work order that Tom Preiato, the town's chief building inspector, had imposed on work being done on the front brick patio and dry bar in January. The patio had been pulled up and the bar moved to allow for the removal of two 2,000-gallon underground gasoline storage tanks dating back many years to when the spot was a gas station. Mr. Preiato said at the time that the owners had not obtained permits for any of the work.
On Wednesday, Mr. Preiato said he had lifted the order the day before with the understanding that the bricks would be replaced by clean local gravel. He also said the needed permits for the removal of the tanks had been obtained by the owners.
Work has been going on at the restaurant since yesterday. The bricks have been moved from the front area.
There is now a level surface of gravel, where the front patio had been. A tanker from Quackenbush Cesspools was pumping out the restaurant's septic system this morning.
John Fairchild, the restaurant's manager, was overheard talking on his cellphone during a recess at Supreme Court today, urging work to continue on the restaurant, hopeful that it could open tomorrow.
While the restaurant has not yet received its assembly permit, Dianne K. Le Verrier of Jordan and Le Verrier, the restaurant's attorney, said that Joseph Prokop, the town's attorney, had given her a verbal assurance that it would be issued in time for its opening tomorrow.