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09/30/2015 10:30 AMWill Dock & Dine rise again at Saybrook Point? The answer, according to restaurant principal owner Jon Kodama, is that he hopes it will.
The new Dock & Dine facility, unlike the old one that storms Irene and then Sandy destroyed, will be built up on piers at an elevation of 14 feet, one foot above the 100-year flood line. Also, as required for non-residential structures in flood zones, the building will be securely anchored on pilings and columns and the lower or first floor area will be of a design to allow water from waves and storm surge to pass through.
Plans for the new facility were approved by local land use bodies in 2013, but delays in securing a complete financing package coupled with other restaurant projects that required Kodama’s attention meant that a Dock & Dine start was also delayed.
Kodama has been working on opening a new restaurant on the water in Stonington Borough. Kodama took over a restaurant facility that closed, and developed and then executed plans to remodel and re-open it as Breakwater, which opened for business this summer.
The other reason for a delay was the size of the financing package needed to rebuild Dock & Dine to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone construction standards.
“Our big hurdle is funding. The problem is the cost of building to the new [flood zone] regulations,” said Kodama. “We’re looking at a combination of private equity and bank financing to complete the funding package.”
The restaurant, once open, will employ more than 100 people.
“There is no question in my mind that it will be a very successful restaurant,” said Kodama.
Last week Kodama filed an application with the town’s Land Use Department asking for relief from flood zone construction rules for two of the project’s elements: the main staircase from the parking lot up to the main floor and for the elevator shaft. Kodama’s variance request will be on the Wednesday, Oct. 14 meeting agenda of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).
He is requesting relief from the FEMA rule that requires break-away construction designs for elements located on the first floor of a structure in a flood zone. In a hurricane, waves and storm surge could pass through the first floor and around the support piers for the upper floor, but those elements located within the flood-prone first floor should be designed to break away without damaging surrounding structures.
After discussions with Kodama and his team, FEMA regulators finally agreed to allow the two emergency staircases from the restaurant to the parking lot to be of a permanent rather than break-away design, but they could not reach agreement on the signature main staircase.
Kodama is asking the ZBA to approve a variance from the flood zone construction rules to allow the restaurant’s main staircase to also be of a more permanent design.
Kodama also is asking the ZBA to provide relief from the flood construction rules to allow installation of an elevator shaft in the restaurant’s first level. An elevator would allow the facility to be handicapped-accessible. Under the current flood zone standards, any structure, including an elevator shaft, would have to be of a break-away design.
The new elevator, if the ZBA allows it, would take patrons from the parking lot up to the main restaurant dining room and porch area.
“We’re still optimistic that the project will move forward soon,” said Kodama.