Bonca's restaurant in Sennett has again been denied a certificate of occupancy, as the town's code enforcement officer is blasting the Sennett Zoning Board of Appeals in a recent letter denying such a certificate.

“No change,” David Sikora said regarding the current status of the C of O application.

It's the latest development in the long saga between the owners of the former Pioneer Restaurant property and town officials.

In a Dec. 11 letter to owners RyBach & Rig Property LLC, Sennett code enforcement officer Paul E. Weiman Jr. outlined outstanding items that he said still had to be resolved before he would issue the remaining documents to legalize the operation.

“You have not received a C of O yet because you are not entitled to a C of O,” Weiman said in the letter. “Matter of fact, you are continuing to operate illegally without a C of O.”

In the same letter, Weiman took strong issue with a ZBA decision to exclude cellar space from calculations used to determine square-footage of the restaurant operations portion of the property.

The town has already taken the ZBA to court once over decisions it had made in March, but a judge ruled the ZBA had acted properly.

“Given that the ZBA is likely to ignore the logical results of its own decisions anyway, you are free to use the cellar of the property at 3193 East Genesee St. as you see fit,” Weiman wrote. “I suppose if you want to have dancing girls, a nuclear reactor or a toxic waste dump in the cellar, the ZBA is likely to find those items are permitted in the R zone as well.”

Sennett Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman James Lent said the ZBA only evaluated the computation of square-footage regarding the cellar and did not make a determination on the cellar's use.

“In the determinations of the ZBA when we were discussing the allowable 50 percent in size, a cellar would not be used,” Lent said. “In the definition of the zoning code it states that the square footage in a cellar is not to be included in a volume of a building.” He declined to comment on the tone of Weiman's statements about the ZBA.

RyBach & Rig partner Greg Rigby, in a response to Weiman's letter, wrote in defense of the ZBA. “It is inconceivable to me that an employee of the town could sign his name to a letter containing that level of vitriol, sarcasm, anger, frustration and insults towards another town agency,” Rigby wrote.

The town had taken the ZBA to court following its March decisions that permitted Bonca's to operate with certain restrictions. But after a judge ruled in favor of the ZBA, Weiman still refused to issue a certificate of occupancy, saying numerous violations remained.

Bonca's disputed Weiman's findings and opened to sell ice cream on July 12 without a certificate of occupancy. It filed an appeal to the ZBA of Weiman's determinations.

On July 17, Bonca's was issued cease and desist orders and an order to remedy violations. While the appeal to the ZBA was under review, the business continued to operate and eventually began offering a food menu.

The business has continued to operate since the ZBA finished its most recent review, which through a series of decisions made over multiple meetings, effectively found that Bonca's could move forward.

On Oct. 24, RyBach & Rig sent a letter to Weiman requesting a certificate of occupancy following the ZBA's final decisions days earlier.

On Oct. 30, Weiman compiled a list of final C of O problems, including details needed in as-built plans, sign issues - the menu sign is too large and is not allowed in a residentially zoned district, he said - and advertising of delivery services, which he claims is not allowed. He also said the storm water prevention plan, done after disturbance work was done, was not up to date in terms of inspection, certification, and appropriate signatures.

He suggested submission of copies of the needed reports, certifications, drawings and final certification to the town before issuing a final C of O.

RyBach & Rig's response contested most of the items on the list, but agreed to have engineers consult on the storm water issue. That letter concludes that there appears to be no legal or valid reason for not issuing a C of O for the first floor and the restaurant.

That eventually led to Weiman's Dec. 11 letter again denying the certificate of occupancy. He cited as one of the issues the upstairs space, used by previous owners as living space. RyBach and Rig have apparently been keeping unused furniture on that floor.

Weiman offered RyBach & Rig two options: make it residential space conforming to state fire prevention codes or leave it vacant, which means it can be used for nothing. Weiman's letter referred to New York State Code Office attorneys who said this was how to handle the matter.

Issuing a C of O now would certify the second floor as an allowed use, and it is not, he said. He advised the removal of items stored on the second floor, leaving the space vacant. “Once the space is vacant, then this issue goes away,” he said in the letter.

But RyBach & Rig maintains that the second floor is a non-issue because the company is seeking a building code certificate of occupancy, not a zoning code C of O. Rigby sent a Nov. 26 letter to Weiman stating that furniture items on the second floor were purchased for that floor and were not being stored for the operation of the business.

“Further, by your direction, no one is even allowed into the space, not customers and not employees,” Rigby said in his letter.

Weiman, who did not return calls for comment, denied in the Dec. 11 letter that he is acting unfairly.

“I don't wish to make decisions or interpretations that cause undue delay or hardship on any applicant, even an applicant such as yourself who has consistently violated the law, and continues to violate the law,” he wrote.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net