The Cotillion banquet hall sues Town of Oyster Bay over denial of catering permit

The owners of the Cotillion, a longtime eatery and banquet hall on Jericho Turnpike, sued the Oyster Bay Town Board over its decision late last year to deny the restaurant’s permit to operate as a caterer.

The Article 78 suit, used to challenge state and local government decisions, alleges the town’s resolution in November to deny the restaurant’s special-use permit application was “irrational, capricious, unreasonable and contrary to the evidence in the record.”

The Cotillion, at 440 Jericho Tpke. in Jericho, has been operating as a caterer since the 1950s, according to the suit, filed in state Supreme Court last month.

The legal challenge escalates a yearslong dispute over the site after residents from The Manors condominium community, on the opposite side of Jericho Turnpike, raised issues over the noise emanating from parties at the popular Indian restaurant. The town said those issues remain unresolved. The town board’s move to strike down the permit effectively barred the business from operating as a caterer, Newsday has reported.

Robert Litt, an attorney representing the Cotillion, wrote in a complaint filed Dec. 8, 2025, that the “only ‘evidence’ submitted in opposition to the application was uncorroborated generalized community opposition from residents of the Manors at Jericho.”

A 2020 acoustical report commissioned by the Cotillion at the request of the town “did not find any violations of the existing Town noise ordinance provisions or that noise levels exceeded the ambient sound created by vehicles traversing Jericho Turnpike,” according to court documents.

The town’s code doesn’t specify an allowable decibel level for noise. It considers a noise disturbance to be “Any sound which endangers or injures the safety or health of humans or animals or annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities or endangers or injures personal or real property.” It does not call for noise to be inaudible, the lawsuit reads.

“The Board's decision was based solely upon community opposition to the proposal — an improper basis upon which to deny a Special Use Permit application,” Litt said in court documents.

Brian Nevin, an Oyster Bay spokesman, said the town does not comment on pending litigation.

During an annual review of the restaurant’s public assembly license in 2016, town officials told the owner of the property that the Cotillion lacked a specific approval to operate as a catering facility. Town officials said the area is zoned for neighborhood businesses, Newsday has reported.

The Cotillion first filed a special-use permit application in 2017 and made a series of site plan revisions in recent years, according to court documents. The town then denied the permit in November.

“There’s been ample opportunity to address the complaints since the original application, and it hasn’t been done,” Lou Imbroto, a town councilman, said at the town's November meeting. “We know that the neighbors are not happy.”

The case’s court date is Jan. 28.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ