Complaints Over Surf Lodge
(07/16/2009) The Surf Lodge in Montauk has been hit with four citations by the Suffolk County Health Department for alleged violations in the
 Janis Hewitt
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way food has been handled in its kitchen and for exceeding its seating capacity.
In addition, the East Hampton Town Code Enforcement Department plans to cite the lodge this week for operating a retail store without site plan approval.
MCM Hospitality, the owners, were fined and told to remove the store earlier this year, but it was opened again this season. It sells Tracy Feith merchandise and, as of Tuesday, women could still be seen browsing for frocks in the small space.
The owners did not return a call for comment this week.
When a Health Department inspector visited the site last month in response to a complaint about the septic system and overcrowding, the inspector reportedly found ready-to-eat food being prepared with bare hands, an unapproved food preparation area, and an obstructed hand-washing facility.
Christopher Sortino, the Health Department’s chief of public health protection, would not say who lodged the complaint. However, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk have been closely monitoring the lodge, which is on Fort Pond, the second-largest freshwater pond on Long Island.
The Concerned Citizens had complained to East Hampton Town and the County Health Department last year that the club was exceeding its seating capacity. In February they said that, while fewer than 70 diners can legally be seated at one time, the chef, Sam Talbot, had boasted in a New York Times interview that 600 dinners had been served in one night.
Tiffany Scarlato, the deputy town attorney, said that the Surf Lodge has a food service permit to seat 69 people, adding that Health Department is in charge of enforcing the conditions of the permit and that the town does not have jurisdiction over food service permits.
Richard Kahn, a retired attorney and a member of the Concerned Citizens, reported at a Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on July 6 that the Surf Lodge was under investigation by the Health Department. He said that dye strips were used to test the water in Fort Pond and they came up negative, adding, “But that’s only because it’s early in the season.”
Mr. Sortino explained that a dye was poured into the lodge’s toilet system and that after several hours and repeated flushes, the water in the pond was tested. The inspector found no evidence that waste from the septic system was entering the pond, he said. He added, however, that if the lodge continues to exceed its seating capacity the septic system will be stressed and could fail completely.
At the Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, Dominic Schirrippa, the director of code enforcement for East Hampton Town, said that the Surf Lodge has already received two citations for music being too loud. If the lodge receives one more, he said, its music permit will be suspended and will be subject to review before being reinstated.
Officers responded to a noise complaint on Sunday, he said, but it was unfounded.
Mr. Schirrippa said the Surf Lodge will be cited again for continuing to run the boutique without a permit. “They received a fine and were told to close it down and then they opened it again. So we’ll cite them again,” he said.
The Health Department citations will be addressed on July 28 before the Suffolk County Department of Health Services Food Division in Yaphank.