Broken Bow Brewery seeks amended special-use permit to add commercial kitchen, retain tented events during pergola phase

Broken Bow Brewery LLC asked the Tuckahoe Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday to amend its existing special-use permit for 173 Marbledale Road to allow installation of an on-site commercial kitchen while keeping existing limits on special events and food trucks.

The request, presented by architect Louis Campano on behalf of the business, covers two phases: an initial interior alteration to add a commercial kitchen, extend the bar and create private event space, and a later phase to reconfigure the beer garden and parking and install a pergola. Campano said the kitchen would be used for events and to prepare specialty items not normally on the regular menu. "We discussed the scope of the project, 2 phase project with, the first phase being an interior alteration to include, a commercial kitchen," Campano said.

The amendment would preserve the permit's existing event limits: the applicant said prior approvals allowed a total number of events with a specified subset that could include food trucks. The applicants asked the board to maintain the same event and food-truck parameters while adding the kitchen. Campano and board members also discussed a temporary allowance for tented events to cover the period before the pergola is installed.

Why it matters: the application affects use of an existing neighborhood venue, off-street parking capacity and how temporary events are managed while a permanent structure is built.

Board members pressed for clarity on parking and the mechanics of temporary tented events. Campano said the site currently has 12 parking spaces and the project would add one more, bringing the total to 13; he also said a neighboring property owner, Rocco, may provide overflow parking under a license agreement and that documentation would be provided at a subsequent meeting. A board member said the building inspector reported a different count (five spaces); Campano said he had not received the inspector's documentation and the parties would follow up.

The board and applicant also discussed how tented events would interact with the proposed pergola. Campano described the pergola as an automated roof over the reconfigured beer garden with three open sides: "The pergola only covers the beer garden. The beer garden," he said, and added that the automated roof would close in inclement weather. Campano said tents would be used only until the pergola is constructed and that tents used for events must be cleared through the building and fire departments for safety.

Members asked the applicant to clarify the exact tent size and to make explicit in the amended permit that tent use is temporary until the pergola is erected. Campano supplied a tent size during discussion and the board requested that the amendment language reflect the temporary scope and the existing numerical limits on events and food trucks.

The board opened the public hearing on the amendment and, seeing no public commenters, voted to leave the hearing open to the next meeting so the applicant could provide requested clarifications and documentation, including parking confirmation and clearer permit language on temporary tenting and outdoor music.

Ending: The board did not take a final vote and left the public hearing open pending submission of parking documentation, clearer permit language about tented events and outdoor music limits, and confirmation from the building inspector.