Store runs without CO
A frustrated Greenport resident wants to know why a convenience store in her neighborhood is still being allowed to operate without a certificate of occupancy.
Jeanne Cadden, who owns a house just south of the store, Layyah, on Front and Fourth streets, has been complaining since early July about changes she said need to be made to the store’s original Planning Board approval issued last fall.
The case was reopened this summer when Planning Board members called building owners Dr. Fehim Uyanik and his wife, Amy, in to explain why their parking lot had one space more than had been shown on the approved site plan.
It was then that Ms. Cadden and other Fourth Street neighbors got involved, alarmed by signs posted at the store indicating that it would be open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Neighbors also complained about egress from the store’s parking lot onto residential Fourth Street and Ms. Cadden was concerned about possible stormwater runoff from the paved parking lot onto her property.
On Sept. 2, Ms. Cadden showed up at a Planning Board meeting hoping for some resolution. Instead, she was told by village administrator David Abatelli that the case wouldn’t be on the board’s agenda until at least October while village attorney Joseph Prokop was in consultation with the Uyaniks’ lawyer, Michael Solomon, Mr. Abatelli said.
In the meantime, building inspector Eileen Wingate has issued at least two notices of violation to the owners, both for operating without a certificate of occupancy, but public action on the matter cannot proceed until the lawyers work out an agreement, Mr. Abatelli said.
Store operator Imran Khan said at the end of July that he had been advised by the Uyaniks’ attorney that he could open Layyah. He was concerned about further delays, saying he couldn’t afford to lose the entire summer season.
The Planning Board did act on three other applications last week:
* Juan Ramos won approval to operate a barbershop in Bootleg Alley, off Front Street. Signs and a barber’s pole at his shop were also approved.
* Both Wells House B&B and DeCordova Gallery won approvals for directional signs to be placed at Main and Front streets and Bay and Main streets directing visitors to their businesses on northern Main Street.
