SENNETT -- The Sennett Zoning Board of Appeals postponed a public hearing advertised for Thursday to consider an appeal byPioneer Restaurant owners of certain interpretations of the town's zoning ordinance and local law..

James Lent, ZBA chairman, apologized for notifying the public, who had filled almost every seat, that the hearing would be on Thursday, Jan. 24. He called it an oversight that the public hearing portion of the process had been closed during the Dec. 13 meeting.

The board unanimously agreed to reschedule the public hearing for a special meeting of the ZBA at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26. This would also allow the various attorneys to review the minutes from the Dec. 13 meeting, which were still incomplete, and to listen to selected portions of tapes made of that meeting.

Pioneer Restaurant owners Donald Ryan, Mark Bachman, and Gregory Rigby, of RyBach & Rig Properties, LLC, essentially maintain that they complied with the town's building code and that the code enforcement officer made three decisions not supported by town ordinances: the requirement to have a site plan, approval by the ZBA for outdoor seating and a drive-up window as non-conforming use, and whether or not the restaurant lost its non-conforming use status.

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