Lake Dine and Dance temporarily shuts down

Closure the result of Health District filing complaint in court

A Lake County Common Pleas Court judge ordered the temporary closure of Lake Dine and Dance in Painesville Township following a complaint filed by the Lake County General Health District Feb. 11.

The health district is seeking the closure of the 520 Fairport Nursery Road establishment until the business connects to the sanitary sewer line and “properly abandon(s) the temporary sewage holding tank.”

According to the complaint filed by the health board, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency sent a notice of violation on May 8, 2018, after conducting an inspection. Lake Dine and Dance was ordered to abandon the temporary sewage holding tank and connect to the sanitary sewer.

A second notice was sent to the establishment on Oct. 1, 2018, after a followup inspection. The business was again ordered to properly abandon the temporary sewage holding tank and connect to the sanitary sewer.

Lake Dine and Dance was again ordered to do the same

after a Sept. 13, 2019, joint inspection by the Ohio EPA and the Lake County General Health District.

As a result of that joint inspection, the health district also suspended Lake Dine and Dance’s food license due to a sewage conveyance

violence.

“Defendant was ordered to install a visual and audio alarm on the temporary sewage tank and submit proof of pumping out said tank.” According to the complaint, the business had not complied by the time of the filing in the common pleas court.

On Feb. 10, the health district performed another inspection. According to the

complaint, the health district found evidence of raw sewage in the basement of the property, raw sewage overflowing the temporary sewage tank, and raw sewage flowing through the parking area of the property.

Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Vincent A. Culotta signed a temporary restraining order Feb. 11, prohibiting Lake Dine

and Dance from opening to the public or “otherwise allowing the general public access” to the business. According to court records, the temporary restraining order remains in effect for 14 days, “unless extended for a period not to exceed another 14 days, unless defendant consents that it may be extended for a longer period.”

“We’ve done everything

we can to get hooked up to the county sewer,” Lake Dine and Dance owner Charles Titchenell said in a Feb. 12 phone interview. “It should be done in a couple weeks and it should all be behind us. We’ve complied with everything that they’ve asked.”

Titchenell said the process to connect to the sanitary sewer line “has been a nightmare.” He said there

have been several issues along the way that drew out the process for years. He said they finally got the right permit around Thanksgiving and the project is about halfway done now. He’s hoping the work will be done in a week or two.

A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19 in Culotta’s court, records show.