After months of public hearings and more than a year of odor complaints from nearby residents, the Port Washington North Board of Trustees voted Tuesday night, Feb. 10, to allowBombay Kitchen, a food processing business at 85 Channel Drive, to continue limited operations at 50 % capacity through Feb. 28, after which all cooking and frying must cease.
The decision came at the close of a lengthy public hearing that began in August and was continued multiple times as village officials and the applicant debated whether odors from the facility could be eliminated in compliance with the village code.
Bombay Kitchen, operated by Ethnic Foods Inc. and owned by Sanjiv Mody, has held a conditional use permit since 2019 to operate a food processing and manufacturing business in the village’s Economic Development B zoning district.
Under village code, such uses are permitted only by conditional approval and are expressly prohibited from generating any odor because of the district’s proximity to residential properties.
While earlier permit renewals had not drawn significant concern, trustees said that odor complaints began following the 2024 renewal, when the company introduced new fried products. Residents reported pervasive, unpleasant smells, prompting site visits by village officials and enforcement actions, including a cease-and-desist order.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board grappled with whether to grant the applicant additional time to relocate cooking operations outside the village while continuing some level of production at the site.
Attorney Michael Sahn, representing the applicant, told trustees that the company has decided to relocate its frying and food processing operations to another jurisdiction and has been searching for a new facility since December.
“We have made a decision to relocate,” he said, adding that the company hopes to continue operating at reduced capacity while securing a new site. He acknowledged that despite installing an expensive air filtration system known as a “captive air” scrubber, the odors have not been completely eliminated.
“The system has turned out not to be 100 % perfect,” he said. “It is a big and substantial improvement, but there have still been some instances, admittedly, of some detectable odor.”
According to the applicant, production had already been cut roughly in half, with only one of two production lines in operation and the discontinuation of certain fried items, including falafel. The company said it is currently producing a single “crunch” product and has ceased other items identified as odor sources.
Source: LI Press
