Town Delayed Struggling Restaurant’s Repair Permit, Landlord Says

Adedamola Agboola

Anthony Branchinelli said he said could no longer wait for the Town of North Hempstead to grant him the permits needed to repair Misaki, a restaurant located in a building he owns at 411 Plandome Road.

So, Branchinelli said, he went ahead with the repairs needed after a car crashed into the storefront on Feb. 9 anyway.

“I don’t abandon people. I have a responsibility,” Branchinelli said.

He said he began the nearly $15,000 in repairs on March 24 after waiting more than six weeks for the town to issue a permit and hearing pleas for help from Irene Yoshimizu, the owner of the restaurant who said she was being forced out of business by the damage to her storefront.

“I still have to do the brick work outside, inside of the restaurant still has to be patched with insulation and sheet rock, and some paint job has to be done,” he said. 

Branchinelli said he is also foregoing March’s rent of $6,900 to help Yoshimizu.

A driver turning onto Plandome Road from Orchard Street hit an ice patch and slammed into Misaki, damaging the front walls and windows.

A month after the accident, the Manhasset Times published a story about Misaki’s faltering sales and struggles stemming from the unrepaired windows, which at the time were boarded up by a brown plywood wall with “OPEN” spray painted on it.

Yoshimizu said at the time that her customers probably thought the restaurant closed for good.

Branchinelli acknowledged he was responsible for fixing the storefront at Yoshimizu’s expense but said delays in granting a permit by the Town of North Hempstead as well as what her termed extraneous demands prevented the work from going forward.

The permits were issued on March 28, after the repairs were made to the storefront and the Manhasset Times put in an inquiry with the town’s Office of Applicant Advocate.

Rebecca Cheng, a representative from the town, said in an email on March 29 there were unspecified issues with Branchinelli’s application that delayed the issuance of the permit.

“We reached out to the Building Department. Initially, there was an issue with their application, which was why there was a delay in receiving their permit.” Cheng said. “As of today, the application was approved and they should be receiving a permit shortly.”

Branchinelli said the permits were mailed to his architect on March 30.

Branchinelli said he has been embarrassed by the response generated by the March 16 article from residents and community members who have been asking him about his role as the landlord of the struggling restaurant.

“I went to an event at the Plandome Country Club and my wife and I had to leave early,” Branchinelli said. “People kept coming up to me and asking me about the issue. The stuff they told me and my wife, she was embarrassed. I left.”

Branchinelli said he instructed his contractor to file for the building permits on Feb. 15 after they got clearance from Building Inspector William Smalley.

He said his contractor was then told by the buildings department that he needed renderings and drawings prepared by an architect, which Branchinelli said he immediately requested from architect Michael Richtman of Notaro Grupp.

Richtman sent a sketch of the storefront rendering with exact measurements to Branchinelli on Feb. 19, which he said he forwarded to the contractor. 

A week later, Branchinelli said, his contractor told him the town needed an architect to file the drawings and sketches instead.

Richtman was then asked to prepare a site plan locating the proposed repair area, measurements of the storefront, materials used as for structure, exterior finishes as well as the building facade.

The town also requested all of the contractor’s updated insurance information, and proof of license to work in the Town of North Hempstead. 

By early March, Yoshimizu  said, Misaki’s sales had dipped drastically and she was on the verge of shutting its doors.

“I just want it fixed as soon as possible,” Yoshimizu said in an interview earlier in March. “If we continue like this, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The Manhasset Times contacted Branchinelli about the building repairs on March 7.

He said at the time that he had his architects taking care of it. 

“When I told you my architect was handling everything, it was all in the architect’s hands,” Branchinelli said.

Branchinelli said he believed the town was unreasonable in its requirements.

“They should have never asked me to file with an architect. My contractor should have been adequate enough to file those documents,” he said.

Branchinelli said repairs were further delayed by the demands placed on Richtman by the Town of North Hempstead.

To get a site plan together, Branchinelli said, Richtner needed to get a building survey.

“To get all the structural stuff together, it is not something you can do in three or four days. It wasn’t just a case where a car drove through the building and I call my contractor to fix it,” Branchinelli said. “I would have loved to have done that in probably a week but there are other things involved here for me to do.”

On March 22, a week after the permit application was accepted for review by the buildings department, Richtman sent an email to Buildings Supervisor John Neiwender and Glen Norjen, the town’s Residential Plans Examiner, requesting an expedited review of the application, according to documents provided by Branchinelli.

“We got a receipt of acceptance from the town and the town still hasn’t responded,” Branchinelli said on March 24. “Why did we file for an emergency repair permit on the 15th and over a week goes by and we’re still waiting on the thing.”

Buildings Department Clerk Andrew Dunckley said permits filed with buildings department are often revised by the office of the town’s attorney then either denied for violating certain codes or granted and required to appear before the Architectural Review or Planning Board. 

“You don’t have to go in front of any board,” Branchinelli said. “When they get to it, they issue it. And since it was an emergency repair, they should have gotten to it.”

Branchinelli said the town should not have requested all the drawings and renderings it requested from his architect.

“I don’t think it’s the town’s fault but they [building’s department] were asking for irrational stuff,” Branchinelli said. “I’m not doing a new building construction, we’re doing a replacement.”

He said the requirement for an architect to submit a plan was an example.

“Do you think my architect who does big jobs will put away what he’s doing to put together a storefront job. I don’t think it became an emergency job for him,” Branchinelli said.

Efforts to reach Richtman were unavailing.

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