The town of Carmel has hired an outside attorney to prosecute pending violations involving Friends Waterfront Bar & Grill in Mahopac because a Town Board member is part owner of the establishment, Supervisor Mike Cazzari said.
The Town Board voted 3-0 at its Sept. 29 meeting to appoint White Plains attorney Pat Bonanno as special prosecutor in a case identified in the resolution as The People of the State of New York v. Four Friends on the Lake, LLC, currently pending in Carmel Justice Court.
Bonanno will be paid $250 an hour.
Councilman Frank Lombardi, who is part owner of Friends Waterfront, abstained from the vote. Cazzari was absent from the meeting.
Reached by Mahopac News, Lombardi declined to comment.
Cazzari said the town was forced to seek outside counsel because of Lombardi's ownership interest in the business. Ordinarily, he said, the case would be prosecuted by town attorney Joe Charbonneau, whose responsibilities include planning and code enforcement matters.
“We had to pay the outside lawyer, otherwise there would be a conflict of interest,” Cazzari said.
Finding someone sufficiently removed from Carmel proved difficult, the supervisor added.
“It took a while to find a lawyer who wasn't involved with anything in Carmel or Mahopac,” Cazzari said.
Friends Waterfront is located at 156 East Lake Boulevard on the eastern shore of Lake Mahopac. Complaints about noise and late-night activity at the establishment have become a recurring issue this summer.
Cazzari said he believes there have been approximately five violations issued for excessive noise and that those violations are now before the court.
Carmel Police Chief Anthony Hoffmann told News 12 in August that police had responded to approximately 16 noise complaints involving Friends Waterfront and that about 10 court summonses related to the complaints had been issued and were pending at that time.
The controversy has also repeatedly reached Town Hall.
In February, East Lake Boulevard resident Andrew McNulty complained to the Town Board about noise from Friends Waterfront, particularly during the warmer months. Town meeting minutes show Cazzari responding that the matter had been referred to the Police Department.
More recently, residents returned to the board with complaints about excessive noise, speeding, parking and pedestrian safety along East Lake Boulevard, which is also Putnam County Route 72.
Residents have said amplified music from the waterfront establishment can be heard well beyond the immediate neighborhood. Cazzari said complaints involving restaurants and bars at the location are nothing new.
He said the site has had noise-related problems dating to the 1980s and 1990s as establishments changed names and ownership, with disputes at times resulting in litigation.
“Mahopac Point, which is across the lake from the bar — they were the biggest complainers,” Cazzari said of the earlier disputes. “It's true that the sound comes right across the water; it carries.”
Cazzari said he expects the pending prosecution to eventually be moved out of Carmel Justice Court because of potential conflicts.
“It is going somewhere else; I am not sure which court,” he said. “I don't see any of our judges willing to do it.”
The resolution the board passed at the Sept. 29 meeting authorizing Bonanno's appointment also states that his authority will extend to the prosecution of any parties that are later added or substituted in the proceeding, either by stipulation or court order.
The case comes as the town and county continue to confront broader concerns along East Lake Boulevard. At the same Sept. 29 meeting, the Town Board adopted a separate resolution asking Putnam County to conduct a traffic study and reduce the speed limit on the county-owned road to 25 mph.
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