Parking Problems Persist at Mt. Kisco Burger Restaurant
The owner of a Mount Kisco burger restaurant accused of unauthorized site plan modifications told the planning board last week he has completed required improvements but board members contended that the changes are insufficient.
Vincent Corso, who owns the Westchester Burger Company at 353 N. Bedford Rd., apologized to the board at its July 10 meeting for allowing site violations to occur on his property. In the past two weeks there have been improvements to the landscaping and the area where garbage is stored and installation of new plumbing and lighting, he said.
“We all feel that we’ve actually made wonderful improvements to what the front of the building looked like,” Corso said. “We are sorry that it did take longer than expected.”
Although Chairman Joseph Cosentino accepted Corso’s apology, board members told him that he couldn’t resume outdoor seating until the parking is addressed. The restaurant currently has 48 on-site parking spaces.
“You’re very successful,” Cosentino said. “We’re proud of you. The problem is parking.”
Corso said he would work with the owner of the adjacent property where Sleepy’s is located in hopes that he could use that lot for spillover parking.
Building Inspector Austin Cassidy concurred with the board adding that Corso needed more parking to allow outdoor seating.
“You don’t have enough parking to support it,” Cassidy said.
In a letter written last month and made public at the June 26 planning board meeting, Cosentino charged that Corso made unauthorized modifications to the restaurant’s originally approved site plan.
Aside from parking, landscaping remained a sticking point for the planning board. Board member Douglas Hertz said the restaurant’s landscaping provided inadequate screening of the structure as large portions of Corso’s property had no plantings.
“There was a landscaping plan that was developed for the entire street,” Hertz said. “This does not comply.”
Corso defended his landscaping, arguing that it did comply with what he was told to do.
Village Planner Nanette Bourne suggested board members and village staff tour the site before the restaurant returns for the board’s Aug. 28 meeting.
