After months of deliberation and community complaints about noise, the Village of Westbury has granted Cena 081 a four-month probationary cabaret permit.
The permit was approved at the village’s board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 2, which includes a list of conditions for the restaurant owner to follow.
Westbury Village Mayor Peter Cavallaro said at a village meeting in September that he was troubled by how the Italian restaurant had operated since acquiring its special-use permit in May.
The board unanimously granted Christopher Stasi, the owner of Cena 081, a cabaret permit on May 15 with a list of conditions, including a stipulation that it could be revoked if more than two reasonable, substantiated and corroborated complaints were made.
Village officials said they received several complaints about the restaurant, although some had been unfounded. Two complaints required a summons, according to Cavallaro.
“Business of this nature is going to have these complaints, and these are the same complaints that have been going on for the last 15 years,” William Mello, who represented the Post Avenue restaurant at the meeting in September, said.
Cavallaro had also previously said the restaurant was being advertised as a club, something he said the owner had said would not be the case.
Two other trustees also said that what they previously heard from Stasi about the noise that would be produced by the restaurant was not truthful.
“I’m troubled with the lack of follow-through,” Trustee Pedro Quintanilla said.
“What he actually presented to us was not factual,” Trustee Beaumont Jefferson added.
Several village residents had also publicly stated that they could hear the noise late at night.
