Editor's note: the following letter was written by TerraSole owner Pietro Polini and addressed to Ridgefield First Selectman, Rudy Marconi.
Dear Mr. Marconi,
I want to thank you for meeting with me and providing me with some insight. However, as you are aware, the town is still moving forward telling me I cannot use and remove everything I have built. It has been mentioned that there have been some complaints regarding my restaurant and what I have done during Covid up to the present day. It has also been mentioned some people are jealous, however, I believe it goes much deeper than that. I am not sure who or why people are out to get me. I am not sure if it is because I am an immigrant who was born in Italy, my accent, my perceived success or just someone in town who does not like me or does not want someone like me to be successful here. I have been in business here for 14 years and did what I could do to get through Covid and now equally struggling times.
I am a homeowner, a business owner that employs thirty people, I have two children in the school system and a taxpayer in this town as well as I support every charity in town that comes to me for a donation. Yes, I am an immigrant who learned English from caption TV and general conversation. Maybe sometimes I get confused or do not understand some of the technical terminology, but I have worked extremely hard to fit in and make my restaurant successful as well as a destination that brings people into town. It is both upsetting and appalling that people just try to tear you down rather than support the efforts made.
Since the article in the Ridgefield Press and the Facebook posting by a group named RRSD [https://www.facebook.com/RidgefieldRSD] I have been inundated with phone calls and people coming in asking what they can do to support me and what I have done to the restaurant. I did not want to make this a public debate as is evident in my “no comment” to the Ridgefield Press, but it seems certain town staff and others want to go in that direction. Both the Facebook postings and the Ridgefield Press article provide misinformation to the public. Obviously, there are two sides to every story, but it is how we work together to settle the issues that are paramount.
Some of this misinformation includes “Other eateries in town took their enclosures down…” but, what it does not point out is that these structures were in public areas. Everything we did was on private property. Committee Chairs, Commission members, and the press continue to mention that the restaurant is an “historic building.” Yes, the building is old, but it is not registered as a historic building, nor is it even located in the downtown historic district. Further, there have been renovations and changes to the building over the years which have been permitted and approved which probably not been allowed if it were an historic building. As far as water runoff that affected Luc’s: It was a clogged drain that had nothing to do with the TerraSole or the tent and certainly not a town issue. The problem was reported and promptly corrected by the landlord. It stated that pedestrian crosswalks have been destroyed and parking spaces have been blocked. To make it clear we do not have public crosswalks, the parking spots in front of the building are not public parking nor are they maintained or plowed by the town. These spots belong solely to the building. In fact, the restaurant does not open until 4:00 PM Monday – Thursday so we do not have any negative affect on parking whatsoever. The outdoor dining that takes up a few of our parking spaces again has no impact on public parking.
TerraSole did not expand its seating capacity. In the original restaurant there were approximately sixty-two seats and the two-tiered outdoor patio that existed way before Covid sat an additional sixty seats. During Covid a single level raised flooring was built over the existing outdoor patio this provided a level safer environment and provided a level area to erect a tent for additional covered outdoor seating to be able to meet the Covid space requirements and still afford my $20k a month rent. I met with the Building Inspector and Fire Marshal who both were present and aware of what was built to obtain a tent permit and make sure we met all the requirements. Nothing was said regarding building permits or planning and zoning approvals. Over the past three years again nothing was ever mentioned. I made aesthetic improvements to try and make it look more pleasing from the parking lot and to our customers. I was not trying to build something without approval. In fact, the walls and windows Ms. Dew, the Director of Planning references, are the existing required wood railings that were just covered to make them visually more appealing. According to the building inspector he does not care if the railings are open or closed. The window frames Ms. Dew references again were to remove the ugly tent sides and visually clean up the way it looks. The tent structure is still self-supporting and none of this wood framing is structural in nature. Regarding seating capacity, we did not increase seating and in fact decreased the total number of seats excluding the separate new addition formally the Cake Box. We took over what was previously the Cake Box which also had outdoor seating for twelve. This is the area where we constructed a pergola with an operational louvered roof. Prior to construction we consulted with the building inspector who told us if it was under two hundred square feet and was not attached to the building no building permit was necessary. There was never any mention of other approvals being needed.
I have received a letter of violation, cease and desist letters from planning and zoning telling me everything needs to be removed. This is what prompted me to hire an attorney to appeal the decisions. It was not something I wanted to do but I needed to protect my rights and buy some time to get this all figured out.
Since the Ridgefield Press and Facebook post, my customers are shocked that a small town like ours is not willing to work with business to succeed. It is a very real possibility that with all the money I have spent trying to make a better restaurant for me and the town that I may be forced to either close the restaurant, try to sell, walk away, or file for bankruptcy if we cannot come to a reasonable outcome.
I am a single man, not a big corporation. We tried to appear before planning and zoning, and we were outright turned away. We will resubmit in the beginning of January and try to process again. I feel since so much misinformation has been put out there that I will be forced to put out my own information and contact all my customers to obtain signatures of support. Again, I feel there is prejudice against me since at this point, I am being singled out and there is no attempt to work things out. Instead, the town would rather see me close. Not the type of town I would think outsiders would want to be a part of.
In closing, to not create more animosity or to accumulate additional costs for me and the town, I have withdrawn the appeals in the hope that we can work through this with all the appropriate commission and committees.
Sincerely,
Pietro Polini