Montgomery Inn permitted to have gatherings of 20

By Connor Linskey
Posted 11/25/20

The Montgomery Village Board, at their meeting last Tuesday evening, approved The Borland House Inn & Restaurant’s request to hold a monthly dinner.

Each dinner would highlight local …

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Montgomery Inn permitted to have gatherings of 20

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The Montgomery Village Board, at their meeting last Tuesday evening, approved The Borland House Inn & Restaurant’s request to hold a monthly dinner.

Each dinner would highlight local entities such as wineries and farmers. The dinners would be extravagant with three to five courses and only one seating area. The business hopes to begin having these dinners in the new year. They plan to accommodate a maximum of 20 people.

“We want to help the community thrive and keep it going,” said Borland House Inn & Restaurant Manager and Chef Anna Frumes. “And keep us going, because this has been tough. We have two businesses that are apparently not pandemic proof.”

The Borland House Inn & Restaurant has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The business was closed for three months and was even placed on the market. Frumes assured the village board that the house is no longer for sale.

“We’re not going to sell,” she said. “We’re looking to move forward with these ideas.”

The business is hoping to host a dinner party for Valentine’s Day. While their hope is to have a maximum of 20 people, the current COVID-19 restrictions place the crowd limit at 10. They also hope to hold gatherings for Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter.

“Let us do it as an ongoing thing,” said Village of Montgomery Mayor Steve Brescia. “If it becomes problematic we’ll rescind it.”

Furthermore, last Tuesday evening residents advocated for an extension to the village’s six-month moratorium on the submission and processing of applications for land use approvals. The law is set to expire on Dec. 30.

“I just don’t think we should shut the door on this moratorium when everything hasn’t been discussed, everything hasn’t been brought before the public and we haven’t had a public hearing,” said village resident Don Berger.

Berger hopes for a six-month extension to the moratorium.

Chris Ladanyi, a resident of the Village of Montgomery, submitted four letters to the village earlier this year complaining about the submission and approval process for projects in the village. He received no formal response to his letters.

“I urge the village to extend this moratorium until the master plan’s implementation is figured out in true transparency and all concerns and shortcomings of the village approval process I outlined in my four letters are resolved,” he said.

Brescia noted that the moratorium might be extended shortly.

“I don’t foresee extending the moratorium for another six months...,” he said. “I could see maybe another month or two for extension of the moratorium. We can’t just arbitrarily extend the moratorium because when you extend the moratorium you also have to find ways to legally lift that moratorium. Personally, I’m not going to open us up to a potential lawsuit for just arbitrarily extending a moratorium.”