Carmel Orders Blu Restaurant To Cap Illicit Sewer Connections

CARMEL, NY — Town officials in Carmel have ordered the owners of Blu at the Lakehouse, a popular seafood restaurant on the edge of Lake Mahopac, to cap its illicit and heretofore secret hook-up to the town's sewer system. One of the owners is on the town board.

The 13-page notice of violation dated Dec. 18 is the second violation town Councilman Mike Barile and his business partner, Tommy Bonniello, have received since an investigation began.

After questions began into whether the restaurant's septic system was leaking into the lake, a probe then expanded to investigate whether the restaurant was using its septic system or hooked up to Carmel Sewer District #1 (a connection neither paid for by the property owners nor approved by the town or the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which owns and operates the Mahopac Wastewater Treatment plant).

The town issued its first notice of violation to Barile and Bonniello Oct. 24 after Barile said the restaurant had started using a hookup to the sewer district at Clark Place. It did not require the restaurant's owners to close the connection down, offering them time to get all necessary approvals, including not only documents about the sewer line construction and hook-up but also tests of the system.

The Dec. 18 notice of violation, however, is not as conciliatory. It stems from a dye test conducted Dec. 6 to fulfill some of the requirements of the approval process.

Officials watched at the manhole on Clark Place, where a hook-up had become known but discrepancies existed about its use. No dye appeared. However, the town engineer and others observing the test could hear water rushing underground. They opened the next manhole cover and found dyed water and a previously unknown hookup from the restaurant.

"The manner in which the second connection appears to have been configured would allow it to evade detection and regulation," said Town Engineer Richard Franzetti in the notice of violation.

He concluded it was likely the second connection had been operating since 1991.

Barile and Bonniello have been ordered to cap both connections to the sewer district. They face fines of up to $1,000 a day.

According to the notice of violation, they have refused to allow testing of the septic system. Its status is unknown.

They've been given a stringent list of requirements to seek a sewer hookup. Also, to return the septic system to operation, they're required to allow inspections, provide pump-out records, and if dye tests reveal any impact on Lake Mahopac, notify town officials.

Read the entire notice of violation, attached to an article on lohud.com.