White Hart approved for pizza nights amid permitting debate

“If the paperwork’s not right, I’d love to see it get fixed,” —Cathy Shyer, vice chair Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission

SALISBURY — The White Hart Inn will once again run its pizza evenings on the lawn this summer, however, the Planning and Zoning Commission has lingering questions as to the permitting status of Provisions, the hotel’s café that runs the popular event.

After some debate regarding Salisbury’s Zoning Regulation 906, which deals with temporary permits, on May 19 the Commission voted to allow the Inn to conduct its outdoor pizza operation for the season. P&Z stipulated this would be the final temporary permit granted to the hotel.

Attorney Emily Vail, representing the Inn, first brought the application to the Commission at its May 5 meeting, where Chair Michael Klemens said that he was disappointed to see an application for a temporary permit. The Inn had been issued one last year, he explained, but was asked to return with an application for a broader special permit that would account for several outstanding issues with parking and the Provisions restaurant should it decide to use the pizza oven again.

Attorney Vail explained that the Inn was again seeking a temporary permit because site plans were still being drawn for the general application. She added that her client was taking precautions regarding potential fallout from an ongoing litigation against P&Z that would affect its ability to regulate hotels in the “rural-residential 1” zone, which the White Hart Inn is located in.

Klemens advised Vail to speak with P&Z’s lawyer Charles Andres “out of an abundance of caution,” and to return to P&Z on May 19 to review options.

When Vail appeared before the Commission again on May 19, she said that the Inn would still seek a temporary permit for this summer’s pizza oven operation as it remained the best option after her conversation with Andres. She also returned with a document that she alleged negated Klemens’ claims on May 5 that Provisions had been developed “entirely without any permits, and site plans.”

She presented a blueprint of the Provisions kitchen and dining area, which was stamped as received by the Planning and Zoning Commission office on May 13, 2016, and upon which a box for office use titled “Zoning Permit #” was filled in with the letters “NR,” which Vail interpreted to mean “Not Required.”

Land Use Administrator Abby Conroy said she could not accept the document as zoning approval, since there was no signature from the previous zoning enforcement officer, Nancy Brusie, or any other indication of a sign-off from the office.

Commission Secretary Martin Whalen noted that Vail’s reading of “NR” was only an interpretation, to which she conceded that it also could indicate “Not Reviewed.”

Vail reiterated that “the application was submitted for zoning review in 2016”; the Inn had done its due diligence. Still, the Commission continued to question the Inn’s lack of proper documentation.

Members of P&Z agreed that the conversation surrounding the Inn’s proper permitting — much of which revolves around whether Provisions qualifies as a “high-turnover” restaurant and subsequent parking implications — was best left for another time as the focus of the evening’s discussion was the temporary permit for the pizza oven.

Before moving on, P&Z Vice Chair Cathy Shyer, who acted as chair in Klemens’ absence at the May 19 meeting, strongly encouraged the Inn to work towards total site plan approval.

“I think we all feel very good about the services the White Hart offers and the community spirit that they’ve built over the years, there’s no question about that,” she said, “but if the paperwork’s not right, I’d love to see it get fixed.”

Vail said that the Inn was taking active steps towards that end, but that the process has been more complicated than simply submitting an application.

Responding to request for comment, Hotel Manager Daniel Winkley stated, “We are grateful to P&Z for supporting our efforts to bring pizza back to the green this year.” He declined to elaborate on the broader permitting situation.