An East Hampton couple has made good on a promise to sue the Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals after the board denied their request to open a shop and cafe on Washington Street, and this week the board hired a lawyer, Scott Middleton of Campolo Middleton and McCormick in Ronkonkoma, to represent them in court.
In 2024, Samantha Raynor and Joseph Licata applied to the Planning Department to change the use of a retail building at 23 and 25 Washington Street, to allow a 56-seat restaurant. While awaiting review, they also applied for a building permit to make interior changes.
Mr. Licata and Ms. Raynor planned to open the restaurant Ici, “a blend of hospitality and art in a distinctive all day experience. Cafe by day, wine bar at night with a world-class gastronomy program,” according to their website.
The pair had sublet the site that year from Salt House Mercantile and Adam Brotman, a former C.E.O. of J. Crew and chief executive of Starbucks. According to their lease, the rent is $204,000 a year for a term of 27 months, ending in 2027.
The property has sat empty since the lease began.
The village’s then-building inspector, Tien Ho So, did approve a building permit, but revoked it subsequently, stating that it had been issued in error. The village cited two errors: issuing a building permit for work on a property where a site-plan application was pending, and issuing it without the property owner’s authorization. A stop-work order was announced.
The couple then turned to the zoning board of appeals, asking that it vacate the stop-work order. Members indicated in May that they would deny the application, and officially did so in June.
The decision was twofold. First, the board agreed that a building permit could not be issued in the face of a pending Planning Department application; second, that the owners of the property would have to authorize it, and any other request the couple might make. The Z.B.A. took the position that the owner had not granted authorization.
Steven Altman, the couple’s attorney, vowed they would file an Article 78 petition with the State Supreme Court, which was in fact entered on July 21. That filing seeks to annul both the Z.B.A. denial and the stop-work order; to require the village building department to issue a new building permit; to prevent the village from interfering in construction at the site, and to award costs and expenses to Ms. Raynor and Mr. Licata.
Ms. Raynor and Mr. Licata say the zoning board is only part of their municipal problems. The property owners, Clifton Murdock and Paris Fields, who have changed their minds about endorsing the restaurant site plan, are the real issue, they say. Without the owners’ approval, they cannot move forward.
Mr. Murdock and Mr. Fields deny their lessees’ allegations, and explained why at the June Z.B.A. meeting. Mr. Licata and Ms. Raynor, they alleged, had used an authorization they’d signed for a different request — allowing them to hook up to the public sewer as part of their restaurant proposal — to authenticate an application they did not approve of.
In Mr. Altman’s petition to the court last month, he cites a May 6, 2025, letter written by Mr. Fields, wherein he seems to be aware of the intended use of the space.
“Thank you for sending this concept plan which I have gone through twice,” it reads. “It is thourough [sic], complete, clear, very ambitious and beyond what anyone is doing out here in the Hampton’s [sic]. More so, there is nothing in Sag Harbor like this and the only other place to offer a variety of choice options ever, was A.W. Basile’s which opened a century ago and his business in your space went on successfully being the “go to for something” place, contributing to the fabric of the community for 100 years.”
Mr. Altman said the property owners “began to change their tune” in July of last year. He accused them of telling village officials that the tenants did not have owner approval for the proposed changes, which, he said, prompted the stop-work order.
Last year, Ms. Raynor and Mr. Licata also sued Mr. Murdock, Mr. Fields, and Salt House Mercantile, claiming breach of contract and “intentional tortious interference with that sublease.”
While that suit proceeds, lawyers on all sides have tendered nearly 100 separate submissions to the court, some as recently as last week. Portions of the original filings have been dismissed and others amended in the complex case, which is being heard by State Supreme Court Justice Paul M. Hensley, who is to review the latest filings on Tuesday.
Sag Harbor Village, meanwhile, has until Aug. 24 to respond to the Article 78 petition. That case will be heard before State Supreme Court Justice Valerie M. Cartright.
Mr. Licata and Ms. Raynor took to social media in May to address their public fight, saying in a lengthy Instagram post that “We are continuing to fight for Ici because we believe in what Ici will contribute to Sag Harbor, and we hope that soon we’ll be able to open our doors and welcome you in.”
