Council, Banquet Facility Seek Accord on Overflow Parking Issue

Though the sides have not formally come to an agreement, both the Cedar Grove Mayor and the owner of a new township catering hall say they're willing to devise a mutually-beneficial solution to address residents' safety concerns about the hall's overflow parking.

Dhimetrio Vasilopoulos, who owns The Grove, located at 691 Pompton Ave., acknowledged there have been issues with guests parking on adjacent residential streets, but said every effort is being made to alleviate the problem, and urged the facilities' neighbors to be patient while the issue sorts itself out.

"We want the residents to be happy with us, we want to have a great working relationship with the town, and we will do everything we need to make sure everyone's happy," Vasilopoulos said Wednesday.

The Grove is an upscale catering and banquet facility that opened its doors on the former site of the Friar Tuck Inn last month. Its facilities can seat more than 700 guests, with upwards of 70 employees on duty at a time. In its short time in the township it has already hosted several large local functions, including events for the North Caldwell PTO and the Memorial Middle School FSA, and according to area residents, hosts gatherings of hundreds "every Thursday through Sunday."

Since The Grove opened its doors, residents of adjacent streets, including Brunswick Road, Young Avenue and Little Falls Road, have complained to the governing body that overflow parking from The Grove has lead to patrons' parked cars lining their streets, which they say creates a safety hazard, particularly on the curve of Little Falls Road. They also accused the facility of allowing valets to park guests' cars on residential streets, a claim Vasilopoulos denies.

At the April 4 council meeting, Diane Raum, a Brunswick Road resident, told the council that although the building itself is aesthetically pleasing, the parking situation is something that needs to be addressed.

"We want to be good neighbors. It's a beautiful building, but the parking. We will deal with it on a short term basis. But wait until what? Until they finish [the lot]? Or until someone gets hurt?"

Mayor Robert O'Toole addressed these and other concerns with Vasilopoulos in a letter dated March 30, in which he said the overflow parking problem was "Impeding on the quality of life for the residents who live on these streets," and, "creating a traffic safety issue."

In the letter, O'Toole requested Vasilopoulos "address these issues and provide the Township Council with an update."

Although O'Toole and the Township Clerk's office confirmed today that no response has yet been received, Vasilopoulos said Wednesday that his employees have all been instructed not to park in the street.

"I understand the concerns, and of course we're going to do our very best to make sure none of our employees are parking in the street. The employees are all new; once they have a few more weeks under their belts there should be no more employees parking in the street," he said.

Vasilopoulos says approximately 10-15 percent of the site's parking spots are still under construction, and estimated the lot would be able to accommodate The Grove's maximum number of guests within 6-8 weeks.

Regarding valets being instructed to park cars in the street, Vasilopoulos said The Grove uses an outside company for valet parking, and said they have been instructed not to park cars in the street from Day One.

"We never did and never will have valets parking cars in the street instead of in the lot," he said.

He also said he has struck an agreement with landscaping company Caputo Brothers Tree Service, renting a lot owned by the company across Pompton Avenue for employee parking, and says the facility has "always had ample parking, even during events."

He did say, however, that with many events at the facility attended by a high percentage of local residents who are familiar with the side streets, it is difficult to control if a patron decides to park in the street on their own.

"I hope [residents] know that party to party, it's constantly being addressed. It can never be a 100 percent guarantee, but it can be a 99.99 percent guarantee that no employees will park in the street."

Parking is currently not prohibited on Brunswick Road, Young Avenue or Little Falls Road, which gives police little authority to take action unless a parking violation is committed, such as parking within 50 feet of a stop sign.

At the April 4 Township Council meeting, Township Manager Thomas Tucci indicated the township was reluctant to issue the facility a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy before the parking lot was complete, but was pressured to grant the certificate by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs following a "nasty letter" from an attorney for The Grove, which accused the township of "prejudice" against The Grove for not allowing them to occupy the building before the parking lot was completed.

"They had a criteria to try to help the business community because of the bad economy, they had leniency in issuing temporary [Certificates of Occupancy] that allowed [The Grove] to occupy the building even though the parking is not totally complete," he told the council.

The council unanimously agreed the issue needed to be resolved, but each had a different approach.

Councilman Joseph Chiusolo suggested Township Attorney Thomas Scrivo examine the Planning Board resolution approving the hall's use, and report any "obvious safety issues" to Tucci.

"Then we could address it with the police chief and have action taken sooner rather than later," he said.

Councilman Peter Tanella said he favored a more diplomatic course.

"Before we take any type of police action I'd like to see from Mr. Scrivo what our options are. Maybe we can get a dialogue going. In order to address this issue we need to be communicating with them and working together."

Councilman E. Romeo Longo urged the council to take swift action to resolve the issue.

"This council is responsible for the safety and well being of our citizens. We would be remiss if we did not move quickly."