The first few days of a new business can be frustrating for even the most experienced businessman. There can be a host of unanticipated problems.
This is the case for Tom Struzzieri, owner of HITS and Diamond Mills, and now the Saugerties Harbor Restaurant at the Saugerties Steamboat Company, formerly Lynch’s Marina on Ferry Street.
The establishment has also nor yet met village planning board requirements to pave two parking spaces to meet the federal ADA law. While not complying with a minor requirement from the board that just granted a special-use permit can be troubling, in Struzzieri’s case that’s not the worst of his problems.
One of the conditions for his being allowed to open was receiving a certificate from the county health department stating that a septic system to serve the new restaurant was able to handle the load. The county health department found the septic system lacking. It refused to allow toilets to be flushed or water run to wash hands, saying that if the place wanted to open it would have to make port-a-potties available to patrons and staff.
Because of these two problems, village of Saugerties code enforcement officer Eyal Saad issued Struzzieri a temporary certificate of occupancy to open this past Friday, July 22. The temporary CO, Saad explained, was good for 45 days and could be extended if Struzzieri was having difficulty meeting the terms of his approvals.
“We didn’t expect this,” said John Eickman, Struzzieri’s representative. He had expected to present plans to the Saugerties water and wastewater department this week to be permitted to hook the restaurant into the town’s wastewater system.
Eickman joked the restaurant was located in a marina, and because the restaurant was an informal one a port-a-potty would fit right in. But he promised the place would be hooked into a sewer line as quickly as possible.
The restaurant will receive its water from the village water system, whose water line runs along Ferry Street. But there is no sewer line along Ferry Street. Homes and businesses along that road have their own septic systems.
The nearest sewer line is on Burt Street, part of the town wastewater system. The village’s nearest sewer line ends at The Mill housing complex.
A Town of Saugerties wastewater employee said there should be no problem hooking up to the town’s sewer line. But getting permission and hooking into the town line could take several weeks.
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