Va. Beach officials scramble to help eatery stay open

VIRGINIA BEACH

Dimitri Hionis opened the popular Back Deck Bar and Cafe more than a year ago without all the necessary permits.

What did Virginia Beach city officials do about it?

They've scrambled in the past few weeks to get Hionis' restaurant into compliance ahead of a meeting of state regulators today that will determine if the Back Deck may stay in business.

A deputy city manager, agency heads and some engineering and planning staffers have all been working on a solution for the Back Deck, on the Lynnhaven Inlet off Shore Drive. The restaurant's fate has received top-level attention as Virginia Beach city officials at the same time are negotiating with Hionis for some of his property to build the new Lesner Bridge.

"It's a perfect storm of things," said David Jarman, the city's project manager for the $95 million replacement bridge. "We're trying to do this in a holistic way."

At least one city administrator expressed concern about the treatment Hionis has received, citing what she called his history of failing to obtain all proper permits before conducting work at his restaurant sites.

"I understand there is some benefit to the city by assisting Mr. Hionis with approval for his fish market/restaurant, but I think it perpetuates his way of doing business if we overextend ourselves to him," Cheri Hainer, the Beach's permits and inspections administrator, wrote in a late September email to her bosses that The Virginian-Pilot obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. "As it is we have another property cited for similar parking violations and we are not offering them similar trade-offs."

When reached by phone last week, Hainer said city officials are working with the other restaurant, which she declined to name, to ensure that it meets its parking requirements.

Hainer said that in situations in which a business is out of compliance, Beach officials work with the owner to make sure all codes are met instead of shutting it down. If the violations are severe, the city will charge the owner a $150 administrative fee. No fees were levied in the Back Deck situation, city officials said.

The Back Deck came to the attention of state regulators earlier this year. Hionis, who also owns Bubba's Seafood Restaurant and Crabhouse and the Lesner Inn along the same stretch, received a state permit in 2004 to build a deck behind a shellfish company so commercial watermen could unload their catches. The permit, issued by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, prohibited any other use.

When a VMRC official visited the site in January, he noticed it had been converted with a dining and bar area. In March, the commission gave Hionis six months to obtain city and state approvals for the restaurant and bar and allowed him to keep the Back Deck open.

Today, the commission is scheduled to determine if Hionis has met the requirements.

Hionis said he is doing what the city has asked. "I do obey the law. I pay all my taxes."

In the past few weeks he has gotten permits for gas, plumbing and mechanical work, some of which had been done without preliminary inspections, according to city documents.

Hionis still has to redesign his handicapped access and ensure that he has enough patron parking to meet the code before he receives a permanent certificate of occupancy from the city for the restaurant, city officials said.

The parking issue, however, is unlikely to be resolved until the city's plans for the new Lesner Bridge are settled, said Dave Hansen, a deputy city manager.

Beach officials are buying land for the bridge and hope to start construction in 2013. They want some of the land around Hionis' restaurants for a retaining wall and a utility structure.

In exchange for that land, city officials are considering a swap with the restaurateur that involves the Beach closing a nearby street to provide spaces and paving a portion of Hionis' property for parking.

City engineers usually help business owners look at their parking designs whenever the city takes property for a road project, Hansen said. And as a small-business owner, Hionis provides jobs for the city, Hansen added.

"It doesn't mean that he got anything special than anybody else," he said.

Hionis still has to meet all the permit and inspection requirements for the Back Deck, Hansen said.

"I'm not giving him any breaks. We're holding his feet to the fire. He's going to follow the rules."

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com