A dispute between a popular family-owned restaurant in Beach Haven and borough officials might lead to the eatery being shuttered as the summer season on Long Beach Island approaches.
Beach Haven officials late last month denied Holiday Snack Bar a mercantile license for the 2023 season, which means the eatery can not operate past May 14, when its current license expires.
The conflict centers on outdoor dining at the 75-year-old restaurant — on the corner or Centre Street and North Delaware Avenue in a residential neighborhood.
A town official said the license was denied because owners Brian and Eileen Bowker refused their repeated requests to file an application with the borough’s use board for a new site plan that would allow the restaurant to have outdoor dining. Previous rules that allowed outdoor dining in the residential neighborhood during COVID have lapsed.
The new site plan is needed because the property is considered a non-conformity — meaning it was allowed to operate as a commercial property before the borough zoned the neighborhood as residential, officials said.
“They bought it during COVID with some temporary relief as far as seating added to their restaurant, which has all expired. You cannot expand a non-conformity without making an application to the land use board,” borough clerk Sherry Mason said Wednesday.
Though Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation to extend outdoor dining through 2024, individual municipalities have some leeway.
Mason said the sooner the Holiday Snack Bar owners file their application, the sooner their license will be approved.
“They don’t need a major site plan,” Mason said. “We are willing to do a minor site plan. I’m willing to try to lower fees for them if I can. I just would like them to do what we’ve been asking them do for a year now.”
Owner Eileen Bowker said the borough has treated the business unfairly because she suspects a neighbor complained about the restaurant serving breakfast outside last…
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