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MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. – Westchester Burger Company in Mount Kisco was forced to close its outdoor seating until further notice, after a unanimous decision by the planning board last week. But village building inspector Austin Cassidy said the owners have the chance to get their seating reinstated at the board’s July 10 meeting, if they address certain violations.
At the board’s meeting, Joseph Cosentino, chairperson of the Mount Kisco Planning Board, quoted a June 19 letter from Cassidy that called the site “a fiasco.”
According to the letter, the planning board had given Westchester Burger, which opened at 353 N. Bedford Road in March, permission at its April 10 meeting to implement temporary limited outdoor seating. In the interim, the owners, who also have locations in White Plains and Rye Brook, said they would address various planning issues.
General manager and co-founder Vincent Corso, who is ultimately seeking approval for a permanent outdoor seating plan, had been asked to get authorization for the restaurant’s landscaping plan, repair guardrail fencing, fix the lighting and make repairs to the exit.
Last week, Cosentino said these problems have not been attended to and there are issues with the restaurant’s dumpster as well, which he said has no enclosure, a requirement, and leaves the area “fully exposed to patrons, neighbors and rodents.”
It is up to the planning board, said Cassidy, but seating may be reinstated at Tuesday’s meeting provided the owners have attended to all issues cited in Cassidy’s letter and give the board written confirmation of the restaurant’s maximum seating capacity.
Cosentino also noted that although the planning board had required the restaurant to provide all parking on site, some customers park across the road, in front of neighboring businesses and on side streets.
“We welcomed him as a good neighbor and unfortunately he didn’t comply. I don’t consider him a good neighbor right now,” Cosentino said at the meeting.
“There are too many violations and enough is enough,” added board vice chairperson Anthony Sturniolo.
Although Corso was scheduled to be at last week's planning board meeting, he was not present. Cassidy said that since the meeting, Corso has informed him that he is working on addressing all the board's concerns.
Attempts to contact Corso were unsuccessful and phone calls to Westchester Burger Company were not returned as of Thursday evening.
The village code enforcement officer served Corso with Cassidy’s violation notice on June 27, and Cassidy has been back to the site multiple times since the meeting to make observations, he said.
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