Restaurateur pitches $28.2M hotel on catering company land in Smithtown

Restaurateur Anthony Scotto wants to build a 130-room hotel for $28.2 million on his Watermill Caterers property in Smithtown, Newsday reported. Scotto filed plans with the town planning department for a 96,788-square-foot building to be built on the east side of the seven-acre parcel owned by Watermill Caterers. The plan is larger than one that Scotto and his team pitched back in 2006. They’re currently expected to ask for a zoning exemption to build on land designated for wholesale service industry, Newsday reported. Scotto will make his pitch at a public meeting Thursday, but Smithtown officials aren’t likely to vote on it soon. Deputy Supervisor Thomas McCarthy called the plans “premature” and said they don’t meet the criteria for a zoning exemption. For that, he said, Scotto and his team should first present the plans to the Smithtown Board of Zoning Appeals. Town officials still need to assess the project’s potential environmental impact. [Newsday]