By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Once, hundreds of people stayed the night at the Bay of Naples Inn, the turn-of-the-century hotel that overlooked Long Lake.

Now, one or two people can spend the night in the Bay of Naples Inn’s cupola, which has been remodeled into a one-bedroom unit complete with a bathroom.

This summer, Naples resident and businessman Dan LaJoie took over ownership of the cupola. Since then, carpenters have worked on renovating the structure. With an upper floor created for the bedroom, the cupola now has 600 square feet of space.  

On Tuesday, the Naples Planning Board approved the future changes to the interior of the cupola, which will make it suitable as a short-term rental.

Essentially, this is an amendment to an already approved site plan. The cupola came before the board this summer prior to being relocated.

The motion was to approve the amended site plan as presented with the dormer,with a legal egress and with a deck off the back, and with notes added to plan, saying this is to be a one-bedroom unit, a cottage rental tied to the septic system.

The board voted, 4-0, with Larry Anton abstaining. Those members who voted in favor were: Jimmy Allen, John Thompson, Martina Witts and Robert Fogg.

LaJoie hired Renee Carter, of Creative Consulting, to present the plan to the board. Carter is the former code enforcement officer for the town.  

The egress window was part of the request to make the cupola legal as a place to be inhabitedovernight. 

“What we would like to do is add a dormer, an inverted dormer. So that we could have a room, a bedroom upstairs — they need an egress,” Carter said. 

“We want to call it a little cottage.It looks pretty good. The little building is beautiful. We want people to enjoy the history of the building,” she said.

Chairman John Thompson said, “Just bed and no breakfast.”

Carter said that people could put food [from the grocery store or from a restaurant doggy bag] in the little refrigerator just like they would in a hotel room. 

The bathroom will be tied into the existing septic system. The exiting septic system can handle up to 1920 gallons per day. 

“There will a bathroom. It is like a little log cabin and you don’t want to run into the other building to go the bathroom” in the middle of the night, Carter said.

There was some discussion about the septic system. 

Anton asked if it was a full bathroom.

Carter said yes there would be a shower. 

Witts clarified that the septic system already existed on the property, and wasn’t part of plans for the future.

“Yes, I actually inspected it. It was built in November of last year,” Carter said. “It is a large septic system. They installed two septic tanks.”

Carter mentioned that if there were ever plans to put a restaurant into The Barn, the septic could handle that use. 

Anton asked if the plans called for a back door. Currently, there is only one door, which faces toward Route 302. 

Carter confirmed that a back door would be installed. Then, she talked about the square footage.She said the small homes often measure around 400 square feet. The renovated cupola has 600 square feet with a bedroom upstairs and a sitting space downstairs.  

Martin “Marty” Zartarian asked if the entire cupola is going to be one rental.

Later, Naples Code Enforcement OfficerKate Matthews said the notes with the amended site plan would indicate that this is only one unit.