Pongal II Indian Restaurant to Expand

The Sudbury Board of Selectmen granted a request for expansion by the at a public hearing on Tuesday.

The new plans for the restaurant, which is located at 103 Boston Post Road, call for relocating the bar into a new addition, refurbishing the existing bar area to become a buffet, and adding extra seating for about 20 people.

“Essentially they’re victims of their own success,” explained Stephen Lentine, an attorney representing the thriving restaurant, who also said that an additional bartender and manger would be hired to help support the expansion.

“It’s great to hear you’re having such success, especially with this economy,” said Board Chair Larry O’Brien.

O’Brien reminded Lentine and the restaurant’s existing manager, Falgun Pathuk, who was also in attendance, that staff must receive training in regulations for serving alcohol and that the periodically performs stings to ensure local restaurants are in compliance.

As a minor wrinkle in the approval of the addition, Pongal II’s request called for a new total seating capacity of 54, but the Board noticed that documentation they had received from the Board of Health showed a cap of 50. Lentine indicated that he would follow up with the Board of Health, and the restaurant would be willing to comply with the lower limit if necessary.

In other business on Tuesday, the Board continued a discussion begun at their last meeting on how best to solicit feedback from town residents about their level of support for the long-debated rail trail for Sudbury. The Board deems this feedback important in deciding whether to accept a donation of up to $50,000 from the group Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail for a feasibility study and design for a half-mile extension of the current trail from Concord into Sudbury.

Town Manager Maureen Valente explained that there were three options – including non-binding articles for a vote on overall rail trail support at the annual town meeting on May 7, asking residents specifically whether to accept the Bruce Freeman donation on the ballot at town election on March 26, or using the town’s new reverse 911 system to conduct a survey about a broader range of rail trail options.   

“My thinking was that the ballot and phone would give us a much wider selection of what people thought,” said O’Brien, who felt this would be helpful given the complex financial and environmental issues involved.   

Selectman Bob Haarde was less in favor of the phone interview as an untried method and preferred the more traditional vehicles of the election and town meeting.

However, Haarde expressed frustration that the placeholder Town Meeting articles he was reviewing for the first time only contained general language about the rail trail and excluded a description of the Bruce Freeman alternative for a smaller initial segment. While warrant articles can still be edited, the legal deadline to make significant changes was 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

“In future years, I would suggest that we discuss the articles on the warrant before the warrant actually closes,” he insisted.

While Selectman John Drobinski was not in attendance on Tuesday due to illness, Haarde and O’Brien ultimately agreed on a path forward. Valente will ask town council about the feasibility of adding a Bruce Freeman extension article to the warrant for the town meeting, and a related question will be posed on the ballot at the March election. A phone survey will likely also be conducted at a future point yet to be scheduled.

As a final note at Tuesday’s meeting, the Board reminded residents that the deadline to file intentions to run for open positions on various town committees for the coming year is Friday. More information about the 13 positions open is available on the town Web site.