NAHANT ― It was a contentious Friday evening when the Planning Board met.
There were two items on the meeting agenda, but only one of them was talked about: the illegal retail operation of Ocean House Surf and Skate, located in the Tides Restaurant & Pub building on Wilson Road.
Prior to discussion, board member Daniel Berman gave a rundown of the situation, claiming that Ocean House was operating a retail space without a proper permit. Berman’s investigation included going into the store himself to get a first hand look at the location.
“One, there were retail-style window displays,” he said. “And two, there were signs posted on what for years had been the entrance to the Tides restaurant parking lot, now marking it as exclusively for access to the Ocean House surf shop.”
Stephen Smith, who was speaking on behalf of Tides and the surf shop, refuted these claims. Smith said that the surf shop is using the location for storage and also as a means of allowing customers to pick up items not stocked at the store’s other locations at the surf shop’s pop-up shop on Wilson Road. Smith also indicated that all parties hope that the surf shop will have a permanent location at the old Dunkin’ Donuts building.
Smith also claimed that he has never seen anyone shopping at the Tides location, while board member Sheila Hamberton described the shop as staffed; alternate board member Kristin Standish described an incident where a friend purchased items from the shop.
“The surf shop was in fact open,” Standish said. “It was staffed and people were purchasing, including my girlfriend who bought a surfboard.”
Construction on a permanent location for the surf shop is still ongoing and Smith pointed out that there is currently a labor-and-materials issue that many companies are facing across the country. At the meeting, Smith showed on his screen that he had received a completed application for the construction of the Surf Shop as well as for the use of a building in a retail manner.
As the meeting progressed, Berman stated that he, along with the rest of the board, didn’t want to see any type of retail transactions happening in the back of the Tides restaurant. Smith then claimed that the Planning Board wasn’t doing what the rest of the United States was doing ― lending support to small businesses and helping them to grow. Berman stated that the board wants to, and has, helped small businesses, but added that they need to follow the rules.
Things reached a boiling point when Smith said that he was offended that the board seemed to believe that his parties were trying to deceive them.
The Planning Board then voted that no retail transactions of any kind should take place in the surf shop until a special-use permit was received. The motion carried in a 4-2 vote.
