Matunuck Oyster Bar Wins Liquor License Expansion

On the brink of its fourth season, the will add 40 seats to its liquor service area this summer, the Town Council unanimously decided on Monday.

The Succotash Road restaurant owned by Perry Raso, an oysterman, has seen huge success since it opened in 2009. Patrons, he said, flock to the East Matunuck restaurant to take in the scenic views and indulge on its dishes of the freshest seafood catches. The popularity has created huge lines of guests waiting to be accomodated. Raso said serving alcohol in the 40-seat waiting area will give customers a picnic bench to wait on and a cold summer cocktail to sip on while they brave the one-to-two-hour wait times that are typical on peak-season summer nights.

The restaurant already accomodates 80 diners inside and another 48 on an outdoor patio. Customers will not be able to purchase entrees in the waiting area, but Raso said he plans to serve small plates dishes on the patio for waiting patrons in addition to alcohol.

"People had taken drinks out there in the past and that had become a problem," said Donald Packer, Raso's lawyer about the picnic tables that have seated waiting patrons in the past.

According to Packer, before the waiting area can be opened up to appetizer and alcohol service, the restaurant's kitchen will need a bit of renovating. The kitchen hood needs more height as the existing system cannot support additional seating.

Although Raso meets minimum parking requirements, one resident worried the expansion plans would just exacerbate an already difficult traffic situation.

"I'm not sure no matter what he does that can alleviate [parking] because I think his plan is to add more guests," said Robert Trager, a Middlebridge resident who frequents East Matunuck in the summer.

Raso said he didn't think the liquor-service expansion would entice too many more customers.

"I believe we have reached a period of saturation," said Raso. "People will not want to wait more than an hour or an hour and a half."

Trager said a nearby bridge creates a bottleneck, backing up traffic south of the area. Even with valet parking, Trager said patrons often abandon their vehicles in the roadway where they sit - forcing traffic to navigate around them - until the valets can move them.

"We actually have more spots than required for zoning," said Raso. "We had to go to the Zoning Board because some of the spots are in the state right-of-way."

Of the eatery's 60 required parking spots, 25 are in the state right-of-way. Raso started negotiations with the state to by the strip of land along Succotash Road back in October, but is still awaiting a decision.

"You have been a great neighbor and you respond immediately," said Councilman James O'Neill. "We as a council appreciate that."

The council voted 4-0 to approve the expansion. Council President Ella Whaley was absent.

In other business:

• The council voted down a resolution by O'Neill to confer with Narragansett in consideration of a legal challenge to the RI Senate Redistricting proposal “E” - specifically Senate District 35, which lumps Narragansett, East Greenwich, North Kingstown and about 1,100 South Kingstown residents together. O'Neill voted against rejecting the resolution in a 3-1 vote.

"I'm hurt on behalf of South Kingstown residents," said O'Neill of the vote after the meeting. "It's a minimum of a decade and could be as much as 50 years. Look at the numbers, its 10:1 population [in new Senate District 38] and 17:1 population [in new Senate District 35]."

Councilwomen Carol Hagen McEntee, Mary S. Eddy and Kathleen Fogarty agreed parts of South Kingstown were underrepresented under the redistricting plan, but declined to appropriate funding to a legal challenge since the plan is already approved by the governor and the state General Assembly.

• The council unanimously voted to amend the winter parking ban ordinance. Police Chief Vincent Vespia said the existing ordinance did not include town lots, which gave the town Highway Department problems during snow storm plowing. He also recommended deleting elements of the old ordinance that spelled out dates.

"A snow event is a snow event no matter when it is, so regardless of when it snows, we need to have the ability to create a parking ban in town," said Vespia.

• The Council also unanimously awarded a permit to the for its “Beat the Chill, Climb the Hill” 5K road race to be held on Saturday, March 3 at 11 a.m. The race route will snake through Narragansett as well, where the school has already gained approval.