Bellizzi  needs your support

We need your support and would like it very much if you could find time in your busy schedule to attend an important town meeting.  The meeting will be held on  Tuesday July 28, 7:30 pm at the Town Hall in Mount Kisco, located at 104 Main Street. The following background information illustrates what Bellizzi is currently up against in gaining approval for our project.

Over the past 24 years, Bellizzi has continued to support the local community, organizations and local businesses. As you may be aware, Bellizzi is trying to establish the first Food Hall in Westchester County (Exit 4 Food Hall). Our intention is to take all of the great parts of Bellizzi and make them better. We will certainly still feature

pizza, but we will add new flavors, use more local ingredients and help our farmers to grow their business. We will have an open space where the ambiance will be vibrant and full of life.  We will incorporate in our operations

a few local businesses such as Mt. Kisco Seafood to share their creative talents with you.

The process was going very well and we were about to start finalizing our plans, when the building inspector decided that because of minor changes in the internal operations of the business, the food hall is a “change of use.” He then told us we have to create 19 new parking spaces (there never has been parking on the site and there’s no room for any); pay an astronomical amount to the Village to “buy” parking that doesn’t exist to satisfy some of that requirement (which will make it impossible for us to continue); or get a parking variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Our only option is to attend the next Zoning Board meeting (July 28). In order to get an approval, we have to demonstrate that the minor changes in the internal operations don’t change the nature of

our use or that there isn’t going to be any negative impact on the community if we are allowed to operate the food hall without any parking. We believe the changes we are making will have less impact on parking and will add value to our community because while we will still have pizza and our service will still be counter service, we

will reduce our seating by 35 seats.

We continue to be passionate about our business and our community, and we need to redirect ourselves to fit the times and fill a need.  As part of our presentation to the Zoning Board, we want to highlight that people who patronize our business have not had trouble finding parking and that allowing us to continue our business as a food hall will not change parking conditions in the Village.  It is also important for the Zoning Board to understand our local ties and all the things we do to support the community.  Therefore, we are asking people to pass the word and have people attend the meeting showing support for local businesses.  If we do not get the approvals this time, it will likely have a significantly adverse effect on our business.