Editor’s Note: We incorrectly stated the Dept. of Health had cited them for the improper storage. DOH had not issued a violation for that issue. We regret the error.
The Town Council, acting as the town’s Board of License Commissioners, held a show-cause hearing Thursday night to determine what to do, if anything, about The Patio’s liquor license after the town’s building inspector cited it for capacity and storing alcohol in an area beyond the authorized premises. The restaurant is on Main Street at Union Street.
According to Town Solicitor Peter Skwirz, the inspector found alcohol bottles on the second floor of the building that houses The Patio, which was not allowed since it was not listed as part of the restaurant in their application (the upstairs has been a separate apartment before).
Sean O’Leary, lawyer for The Patio, said the owners – Jason and Angel Winpenny – were willing to admit the storage violation. When questioned, he said the Winpennys were now seeking to add that upstairs area to their license.
The other violation concerned capacity. The Patio opened with 21 seats in early 2020 but the Covid pandemic arrived soon after they opened and with it, relief from the state allowing them to use their parking lot and double their capacity. They tented the parking lot and have been allowed a capacity of 42 people since spring 2020 (the town has also tussled with the restaurant over the size of that tent). This violation took place in November 2022, when the inspector found they had 68 seats. (They were also cited twice in July 2021 for having too many seats.)
The Patio argued the extra seats were only there because they had been moved outside temporarily and that the fact they were set with cutlery was a mistake by the waitstaff.
Skwirz said the deal struck with the Winpennys called for the town to dismiss the capacity violation. He said punishing the restaurant for that violation would be hard to defend since there were no people in those extra seats at the time of the inspection and capacity refers to people not seats. He and lawyer Matt Oliverio (hired to represent the council in its role as the Board of License Commissioners) both said the state Department of Business Regulation would almost certainly overturn any license suspension by the town.
The councils voted 4-0 to approve the deal, which called for the Winpennys to pay a $1,000 fine for the storage violation. In a separate 4-0 vote, they also approved The Patio’s alcohol license. Councilor Mike Donegan was recused from the meeting.
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when is the tent coming down? inquiring minds want to know.
Re the tent, this is what Town Manager Andy Nota said:
“In a pre-Covid environment a tent outdoors could only be erected with a permit for 6-months and could be no larger than 400 sq ft in accordance with the state building and fire codes. The tent at The Patio is 600 sq ft and has been in place consistently for several years…. The town has a pending lawsuit regarding the matter although has held off in the hopes of some type of remedy…. The council will now need to determine if they wish to pursue this matter in Superior Court in the coming months should the legislature extends Covid relief [there is a bill before lawmakers now that would extend that relief]. In our opinion, the relief doesn’t apply to this matter…. There is no legislation presently that provides relief from the state building and fire codes and with the recent [20th] anniversary of the Station nightclub fire, there shouldn’t be without far more vetting of any such change. This is about safety and appropriateness in protection of customers of the businesses in this community.”
Agree with JC. What’s going on with the tent?
It was put up under covid to help the business, but now 3 years later it’s still up and no end in sight. I like the outdoor seating idea but they either need a permanent outdoor structure or the temporary tent needs to come down. It needs to look nicer than what it is now.
Does the city have any direction for this? I think everyone would like to know what’s going on since we are 3 years since this all started.