Restaurant Seeks Zoning Change to Bring Outdoor Dining to Commack

A Smithtown architect is asking Smithtown Town Board to consider changing an aging zoning code to permit more outdoor dining areas.

Mark Mancini asked town officials to consider revamping the WSI zoning - wholesale and service industry - which permits restaurants, but not outdoor dining.

“Normally, we have a restaurant in a central business or neighborhood business district where by special exception a restaurant is allowed to have outdoor seating. When it comes to WSI... there’s no criteria or any way for the board to accept outdoor seating,” he said.

Mancini appeared before Smithtowns Board of Zoning Appeals in April to request a special exception for a 993-square-foot outdoor dining area at a restaurant he is designing for 2188 Jericho Turnpike in Commack.  The restaurant, owned by a private individual, is tentatively named “Burger Station,” although this is likely to change.

It was at that meeting he noticed there were nothing in the town’s zoning codes for a outdoor dining area in a WSI zone - yet several exceptions already exist.

Some area restaurants that have been granted an outdoor eating area include Ragazzi in Nesconset, DiMaggio’s Trattoria & Bar in Smithtown, and Napper Tandy’s in Smithtown.

“When you have a full-service restaurant like Ragazzi, DiMaggio’s and even Napper Tandy’s down here in Smithtown, and they have outdoor seating, it works quite well,” Mancini said.

Susan Fink, a Nesconset resident who lives near Ragazzi, asked the town board to think about its residents before making a zoning change that could have a widespread impact.  

“I know you allowed outdoor seating at Ragazzi and I think that it was a mistake.  It is a problem for the people who live there. It’s not a benign thing. You sit there, you see it and smell it and hear,” Fink said.

She has help lead a coalition of Nesconset residents in a fight against a proposal to build Sonic next door to Ragazzi. Smithtown’s BZA denied special exceptions required by the restaurant, which now has a pending lawsuit against the town.