After months of controversy and delays, the North Fork Smoked Fish Co. got the green light from the Greenport Village Planning board to move forward.
At its last meeting, the planning board reviewed a number of issues raised by consultant Glynis Berry, regarding the North Fork Smoked Fish Co., located at 414 First Street.
The board voted to grant conditional approval to the application for a site plan for Phil Karlin, who was granted a variance from the village zoning board of appeals for an additional 519 square feet of manufacturing floor space, which provides a total of 743 square feet of manufacturing and 640 square feet of retail space.
Amy Martin, agent for the applicant, said no renovation other than changing the display cases was planned; an existing fence was removed and nautical type wire and post railing are to be installed around the existing patio. Karlin, she said, has asked for a standing railing because he’d like people to be able to stand outside with their food. The establishment would not be a restaurant and there would be no table service, she said. The exterior patio, which had been in bad condition, will be renovated to make it attractive and also, handicapped accessible.
Berry has said the site needs a drainage plan.
Martin reminded they were there to get the retail operation open because Karlin was in trouble for not opening yet. Berry said stormwater runoff was an issue.
Planning board member Pat Munus said village code dictates that stormwater runoff must be retained on site; she said she did not see a drywell. Martin said a drywell would be installed. Mundus said she’d like to see an overall plan for the entire property, including drainage and parking.
Peter Jacquet of the planning board had questions about the standing rail; Mundus said it was similar to what would be found at a clam bar.
“This is a takeout establishment,” Martin said, adding that there would be a few tables and a railing so people could stand up and eat. “We are a month behind,” she reminded. Although he was approved by the ZBA, Karlin has been served “twice, for not looking like he’s ready to open,” she said. “It’s very strange, all of this has happened, when we’re trying to due diligence and make up for past mistakes, now. This business owner has done more than the average lease holder. It will be a really nice addition to the village when it’s done.”
Berry said parking is grandfathered at the site and the number of spaces isn’t the issue; she would like a clear plan of where parking would be sited and also, she’d like drainage addressed. In addition, Berry said screening was needed around a back dumpster. A window had plywood instead of glass; she asked if that would be replaced.
Martin said there was a limit to how much Karlin was interested in doing before receiving approval; he’s “put a lot of money into the operation,” she said, but was told not to do anything without planning board approval.
Karlin said while his garbage cans are closed and locked, he’d put screening around the dumpster and would, of course, install glass in the window.
One audience member urged the planning board to grant conditional approval. “This guy has been jumping through hoops,” he said.
Greenport member Arthur Tasker said he did not believe the business was a permitted use for the district. “The village code is a permissive code. If you are permitted in one district, you are not permitted in another district.”
Planning board chair Devin McMahon said the application was conditionally approved, as long as signage, dumpster screening, and a drainage plan were submitted.
Meanwhile, at least one resident wants to know why the ZBA ruled to approve the area variance when the business had received a summonses over a code violation, related to the alleged commission of the offense, “effects of establishments of districts.” Although written in March, the summons was allegedly not delivered until right before the ZBA vote, according to resident Bill Swiskey.
“I think the whole situation should be a total embarrassment to the village board and they should apologize to the public,” said resident Bill Swiskey. “Also the public should be informed exactly who in village government is responsible for the fiasco regarding this summons.”
In April, after months of controversy, the Greenport zoning board of appeals voted unanimously to approve an area variance for North Fork Smoked Fish Co.
The approval paved the way for the business, owned by Karlin, which will now feature retail as well as manufacturing/processing space.
The ZBA weighed the application, which proposed a combination of manufacturing/processing space and retail on the property, located in the village’s commercial retail district.
Village code states that manufacturing and processing are permitted in the retail commercial district where goods produced or processed are to be sold at retail exclusively on the premises and provided that the space that is used for manufacturing and processing is fully concealed from any street and is equal in area to no more than 20 percent of the square footage devoted to retail sales.
The application proposed retail space equaling 619 square feet in area, limiting the size of the manufacturing and processing space to 124 square feet.
The variance request proposed was to allow for a manufacturing and processing area of 643 square feet, which is 104 percent of the retail space. The proposed manufacturing/processing space equals 104 percent of the specified retail space, requiring an 84 percent, or 519 square foot, variance.
ZBA Chair Doug Moore gave a brief history of the application, reminding that initially, the business opened prior to planning board review. The application was submitted then to the planning board and referred to the ZBA because of a non-permitted use. A request for interpretation and a use variance to operate as a non-conforming use were withdrawn and the new request was for an area variance.
Greenport Trustee Mary Bess Phillips is 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.
Martin, representing Karlin, said the aim was to use half the space for retail and half for manufacturing.
“This is a very good operation. It is not a detriment to the area, a well-received business,” Martin said. She added that the business is “very appropriate” for the village and said if it was sited in waterfront commercial zoning it would be a “done deal. We hope that you will accept this and allow this to remain, a positive part of the village,” she said.
Not everyone agreed that the business should open in its current locale. “This is the right horse in the wrong stall,” said Tasker, who said most of the sales “are offsite” and the business in violation of village code.
The retail portion, he said, is, “by the owner’s admission, practically a showcase.” The use, he alleged “hasn’t changed,” but instead, was “swept under the table.”
Village code, he added, does not permit shellfish manufacturing in the commercial retail district. “The inescapable conclusion is approving this will amount to a use variance,” Tasker said. “You’re allowing manufacturing behind a sham retail operation,” he said, adding that he believes it amounted to “spot zoning and subject to a legal challenge.”
Resident John Saladino said while he had no problem with the product or the tenant, his concern was process. Referring to Martin, he said, “Amy says the code is antiquated but unfortunately, it’s the only one we have.”
Saladino said concerns exist over selective enforcement in the village.
Swiskey agreed, stating that selective enforcement was a “big issue” in the recent election. “This is the biggest example of a stick in the eye in the village right now. It’s time to stay ‘stop’”, Swiskey said.
Cyril K. Lukeman Jr., another Greenport resident, said Karlin was retired from the United States Coast Guard and working in the Gulf Coast cleaning up the BP oil spill when the dream for North Fork Fish Company was born.
“If civil servants are doing their due diligence they attempt to work with land owners and business owners to achieve a working village and they will enable someone with a dream to fulfill that dream, especially where it enhances the concept of a fishing village,” Lukeman said.
He advocated to let the plan move ahead and said the business brings a flavor of the community to the proverbial table. “It almost seems simple to say, ‘This is a fishing village’. And we’re talking about smoked fish.”
Sarah Phillips, owner of First and South and also a member of Greenport’s Business Improvement, said she supported the business staying in the village and said she feels the retail use would be a good addition to the village.
Later, during the discussion period, Moore said he believes the code was written to preserve retail sales in the zoning district.
Earlier in the process, Karlin had applied for a use variance, which was withdrawn, and the retail component added to the plan.
The board questioned Karlin as to how much of a retail operation would exist,
Karlin said when he was told a retail component was needed, he was “thrilled”. What he sells wholesale, he said, would not allow him to survive.
Retail, he said, will become his primary focus.
Moore asked about his intended hours of operation. Karlin said he anticipates being open seven days a week, year round, likely from 1o or 11 a.m. until 6 or 7 p.m.
Moore said the concern was that an incidental retail operation might be seasonal and not open year round; the ZBA did not want the retail component open only three days a week.
“We’re not looking to hoodwink anyone. We will run it as a retail operation and that will be our primary operation. I’m extremely excited about the prospect of a retail operation; it brings my business to a whole new level,” Karlin said, adding that he planned to be open year round.
Karlin said he did plan to keep selling wholesale to the customers he has now.
The variance was tied to the current business and not tied to the site in perpetuity.
After answering the requisite series of questions, the board voted unanimously to grant the variance; many in the room applauded the decision.
Since then, the application has been before the planning board.
In recent months, 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.
Karlin has also explained to SoutholdLOCAL 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.
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.
His business, Karlin 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 as a 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.
