Thomas MacMillan Photo
After a fire ripped through Da Legna restaurant, the owner rebuilt the restaurant bigger than before, adding a full bar. Then the city cried foul — as did the rival tavern across the street.
According to his lawyer, Da Legna owner Dan Parillo thought he had city permission to install the bar (pictured), until he got a letter telling him he was breaking the law.
That’s what Amy Blume (pictured), the lawyer, told the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Tuesday evening during a hearing at the Hall of Records.
Blume said that due to an error by the city, the restaurant, at 858 State St., now has to apply for special permission for an expansion that it completed with the city’s blessing. She said she attended the hearing “under protest,” seeking permission for a full liquor license and three parking spaces where 12 are required.
The board also heard testimony from several neighbors opposed to the special permissions.
The owners of Christopher Martins, the bar and restaurant across Clark Street from Da Legna, said the neighborhood can’t handle the additional traffic caused by another bar in the area. They decried what they called a “slow creep” of under-the-radar restaurant expansion across the street.
The BZA didn’t vote on the matter, which is headed to the City Plan Commission for a recommendation next week. It will return for a BZA vote next month.
Attorney Blume laid out the timeline of events at 858 State St. Here’s what she said happened:
In August 2011, the Parillo Food Group took over the lease at the restaurant, which was then called Amato’s. The pizza restaurant had 42 seats and permission to serve wine and beer. It did not have a bar.
Rob Smuts Photo
Firefighters at the scene of the January 2012 fire.
On Jan. 14, 2012, a fire destroyed the restaurant. Six months later, on June 14, then-city Building Official Andy Rizzo signed off on a liquor permit application allowing the restaurant serve liquor as well as beer and wine. The next month, Rizzo signed off on a building permit application that had a plan attached showing a bar area and 47 seats.
By November, the renovations were complete, the bar installed. On Nov. 30, Rizzo signed a certificate of occupancy with an “occupant load” of 47. In December Da Legna’s reopened, now with a seven-seat bar and a 40 seat restaurant.
Then on Jan. 12, 2013, almost exactly a year after the fire, Da Legna’s received a letter from Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot stating that the city was rescinding the zoning compliance certification Rizzo had signed in June 2012. The restaurant had never received zoning approval to serve liquor (beyond beer and wine at restaurant tables).
The city did not issue a cease and desist order. Talbot told the owner he had to apply for a special exception to have a bar and 47 seats.
Denying that special exception would result in a “substantial loss” for her client, Blume said. The current situation is the result of a city error, she said; Da Legna did nothing wrong.
Attorney Timothy Lee (pictured) was the first to testify in opposition to the application. He represents the owner of the building across the street, occupied on the first floor by Christopher Martins on the first floor, with eight apartments above.
Lee said the area already has a parking shortage; adding five more seats and a bar only makes it worse. He presented a 50-signature petition of neighbors opposed.
The bar may have only seven seats, but bars always have many more people than seats, Lee said. He said Da Legna should not be allowed to stay open until 1:30 a.m., as it has requested.
“It’s just wrong for the street,” said Chris Vigilante (pictured), one of the co-owners of Christopher Martins. “They did this incorrectly, and the impact of no parking is going to hurt us all.”
Vigilante said the restaurant has quietly expanded over the years, from 600 square feet when it was Amato’s to now 2,200 square feet.
Four neighbors, including Alex Marathas, president of the Upper State Street Association, testified to the lack of parking.
Brian Virtue (pictured), the other Christopher Martins co-owner, said the parking has gotten so bad that people are telling him they can’t come to the restaurant. “I hear it daily,” he said.
Downtown Alderman Doug Hausladen told the board that he has received a lot of emails about the application. Emailers oppose the application by about four to one, he said.
“Parking has always been an issue,” rebutted Blume. Regarding the testimony from Christopher Martins, she said, “Competition is not a legitimate concern of the board.”
She said that to deny the application would be a “complete injustice.”
Da Legna and Christopher Martins both sit at the corner of Clark and State streets.
Boy, this reeks of Christopher Martins trying to drive away any competition while using parking as a cover. We get it -- street parking is limited in New Haven, but why should CMs get a monopoly to use it? If there is such a demand, people can learn to park a block away and walk to the bar. Somehow people in other cities manage to make their legs work for that long. For a market-loving, capitalism-crazed bunch of people, it is amazing how often Americans fight against a little competition.