The Greenport zoning board of appeals discussed an application on Wednesday that one member said would continue to “get a lot of attention”.
On Wednesday night, the ZBA met at the Third Street Firehouse to discuss a motion to accept an appeal for a use variance and a request for an interpretation of the village code, and to publicly notice and schedule a hearing for Philip Karlin, owner of the North Fork Smoked Fish Co., which is located at 414 First Street in Greenport.
The business is located in the retail commercial district, and the applicant was represented at Wednesday’s ZBA meeting by Mary Bess Phillips, secretary and treasurer of K & M Properties, Inc., the landlord to the tenant, North Fork Smoked Fish Co.; her husband Mark is the president of K & M.
According to Planning Board Chair Douglas Moore, the matter was sent to the ZBA by the village planning board, which was unable to proceed without a use variance, since the business, currently in operation as a production wholesale facility, which is not open to the public, for the processing and distribution of smoked fish and smoke fish products, is a use not currently permitted in areas zoned CR.
In addition, the applicant was requesting an interpretation of the the zoning code as it pertains to the retail commercial district, for permitted uses, “manufacturing…as it applies to the current use of the property — processing/wholesale smoke fish business.”
“Needless to say, this application is going to get a lot of attention,” said ZBA member David Corwin. “And if we vote ‘yes,’ these people” — he indicated residents in the audience — “are going to be mad at us. And if we vote ‘no,’ the applicant will be mad at us.”
The application has drawn some attention because some residents have said publicly that they believe the business has been allowed to remain open, without a planning board decision, because Phillips is a member of the Greenport Village board of trustees.
“I’ve attended three planning board meetings where this issue has been discussed. At none of them was it ever disputed that this business opened illegally; in fact, the only thing that everyone from the village attorney, building inspector, to individual planning board members . . .agreed on was that it was open and running illegally without the proper paperwork,” said resident John Saladino in an email to SoutholdLOCAL.
Last week, Phillips, speaking on behalf of K & M, spoke to SoutholdLOCAL and said there needs to be a clearer “customer service” process for an applicant preparing to go before the planning board or ZBA, with a packet of forms available, from the building department at the village clerk’s office, the “front line” to the public, along with a checklist that would make it easier for the public to find use evaluation and other necessary forms. The village website, she added, has to give clearer instructions.
Due to her village position, Phillips said she left the forms to Karlin, who she said didn’t understand he was missing the use variance. The process, she said, is not something every applicant understands and some guidance would be helpful. Karlin said that the matter was nothing more than a clerical misstep.
The site of the business has two other tenants, and Karlin said his business is low impact, with hardly any foot or vehicle traffic, as opposed to any other retail use that could open its doors there; the former business on-site was a retail market.
His products, he said, are sold at Alice’s Fish Market and other East End businesses including IGA, but not on-site.
On Wednesday, Corwin pointed out that there are four specific questions that must be answered when requesting a use variance, and Corwin said the applicant had answered them on the application “awkwardly. I think they need to be done better. I don’t know how to approach this, but I don’t think they address all of the issues,” he said.
Village attorney Joe Prokop said the four questions posed for a use variance are meant to establish a minimum; additional information can be gleaned.
Corwin said he did not believe the questions were “answered in a straightforward way. It looks like a history test, when I didn’t know the answer and I made something up.”
Moore said the matter concerning the completeness of the application would come up in the discussion and if the board found they did not have enough information, a revised application could be requested.
Moore asked Corwin if he’d found anything missing in the application. One page, Corwin said, was not signed, a page was “our of order”, and one place that was notarized did not have a printed name.
“I’m belaboring this because I know it’s getting a lot of attention. It’s not an everyday application,” Corwin said.
Moore reminded that a request for a use variance is “much more stringent” than one for an area variance
The board voted on a motion to accept the application as presented. Corwin and planning board member Diana Gordon voted “no,” the remainder of the board voted in favor of accepting the application. The request for interpretation and a variance will be considered at the ZBA’s December meeting.
Last week, Karlin explained what his business means. Brought up on a potato farm in Calverton, Karlin said he grew up lobster fishing with his father. After a four-year stint in the Coast Guard during which he “wore a lot of hats” and lived in Alaska, doing day trips with local fishermen, he came back and ran tug boats. Later, after the BP oil spill in the Galveston Bay in Texas, Karlin headed to help. When he came home in 2010, there were “no jobs,” Karlin said, and he once again fished with his father and sold the catch at the Green Market in New York.
A description of North Fork Smoked Fish on the business’s Facebook page reads, “We’re about bluefish. It’s part of our heritage. We fished for blues as kids, then as commercial fishermen. Now we catch and smoke the blues. Our meticulous all-natural smoking process gives our filets and pâtés a bold, healthy regional stamp, as do our ingeniously concocted non-smoked Snappa Burgers. Captain Phil Karlin and crew find the freshest, highest quality fish. Smoking them involves the best, all-natural ingredients. No fillers, thickeners or preservatives. Rich in Omega 3.”
North Fork Smoked Fish products can be found at the Green Market in Union Square in New York, Abingdon Square Farmers Market on Saturdays, and the Riverhead Farmers’ Market, as well as in an increasing number of shops.
His business, Karlin said, features three smokers. When he started to look for a place to rent, he said the K & M-owned building was a perfect fit. The location, he said, was ideal. “I’ve always loved Greenport,” he said. “It’s the place that everyone who’s coming out here is going to.” His business speaks to the village’s maritime and whaling history, Karlin added.
Karlin said he uses only the highest quality of Norwegian salmon, and offers specialties such as smoked eels and Peconic Bay scallops. Back when he was growing up, “everyone had a smokehouse. As you’d drive up Sound Avenue you’d see smokehouses, in wooden sheds,at the side of the road, with people smoking eels.”
Popular favorites, Karlin said, include his bluefish and salmon pates — and bluefish and salmo burgers, which were a hit at the Maritime Festival and have a longer shelf life because they can be frozen.
His business, Kalin said, is a dream realized. “To me, it represents freedom,” he said. “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” even co-owning Cliff & Phil’s Lobster House in Southold for a time, as well asa lobster boat in Maryland — and said the business, which combines water, seafood, and providing the highest quality and taste for those who buy his products, is a legacy for his three children. “This business means something to me,” he said.
