TD”™s Rye Smoke Shop, with its hand-painted white-on-green sign, is an anomaly on Purchase Street, in the middle of a ritzy shopping destination in the city of Rye. Its biggest sellers are lottery tickets, newspapers, cigars and candy ”“ and it has a character that evokes country living in contrast to its neighboring metropolitan boutiques, French restaurants and sushi bars.
The smoke shop has faced closure for two years amid looming rent increases, but locals have rallied to keep the doors open on the old-fashioned ”“ and nearly anachronistic ”“ community mainstay. A petition to save the smoke shop garnered more than 4,000 signatures in 2012, according to organizers, and the city”™s landmarks committee looked to have the 19th century building designated a historical landmark (the owner never signed off on the deal).
Now the Rye City Council has stepped in, amending the central business district”™s zoning code in what amounts to a lifeline thrown to the smoke shop. The council voted at its Oct. 22 meeting to allow for building owners to apply for a special historical preservation permit that would allow for banks on the ground floor of a building if certain conditions are met. Although the smoke shop is not mentioned in the law by name, council members’ stated intent is to allow the building”™s owner to lease space to a bank and offset the below-market rent of the smoke shop.
Resident Lindsey Russell, who had started a Change.org petition for the smoke shop, told council members she believed the city should do anything to save the store.
“I understand it may not seem natural for a city council to negotiate with a landlord or come up with such like a convoluted plan, an unorthodox agreement,” she said. “But it seems to me that if the will and the hearts of the people cannot save the smoke shop alone and the City Council doesn”™t step in, who will?”
In 2005, Rye put a hold on any banks in its business district due to an outcry from mom-and-pop stores in the area that feared an influx of banks would increase rents and price out existing stores. The City Council began looking into allowing for a special-use permit after discussions with Fareri Associates, the Greenwich-based developer that bought the property in 2008 with plans to renovate.
Although the new law will allow Fareri to apply for a special permit, accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act is likely to be an issue, with the front entrance having only a concrete step with no ramp. City Mayor Joe Sack said the ADA compliance would likely be looked at as a condition for any permit.
Sack also introduced a sunset clause on the new law that states if the council does not vote to extend the special permit provision, it will be removed from the city code at three months from its effective date. Any permit received during that three-month window would remain under consideration.
Councilwoman Julie Killian voted against the amendment to the code. “I just don”™t feel it”™s the role of the City Council to get involved with a particular landlord,” she said. “I just can”™t get comfortable with it.”
But Councilman Terry McCartney said it was the type of effort he ran for local government for in the first place. “This is not a statewide issue or a nationwide issue, this is a small-town America issue in Rye, New York, and I think we ought to be able to do things like this,” he said.
Tony D”™Onofrio, who runs the smoke shop with his mother, Pam, declined comment except to say it was now up to the building owner how to proceed. “The next step is for the owner to file an application and hopefully enter negotiations,” he said.
A call to Fareri Associates was not returned.
