The owners of Sowams Variety are crying foul over a recent decision by the town's building inspector. 

Muhanad Al-Chalabi and his wife Aseel Al-Sinayyid said they already have a special use permit to be a restaurant, but added that the building inspector, Bob Speaker, would not grant a building permit to install an oven hood so that the Sowams Variety owners can cook pizzas, calzones and hot sandwiches.

Mr. Speaker said Sowams Variety's special use permit only allows Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid to make cold sandwiches, wraps and other food that they can then sell in their refrigerator. He said that is what Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid agreed to during a zoning board meeting — he said the meeting minutes offer clear evidence.

"I told him he has to go back to the board," said Mr. Speaker.

Instead, Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid are appealing Mr. Speaker's decision. In addition, the local business owners are also claiming that Mr. Speaker has discriminated against them.

"Bob Speaker keeps changing the rules on us," said Mr. Al-Chalabi. 

"I wish I never bought this building. I wish I never put $600,000 into this place. I didn't have a mortgage on my house. My cars were paid for. Because of this place, now I have a mortgage on my house and my cars are leased."

Ms. Al-Sinayyid added "We came to America with one million dollars. We put one million dollars in Barrington and now when we want to add something, we took out a loan. A loan, because we don't have anything."

Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid are originally from Iraq. Shortly after moving to Barrington they purchased a building near the intersection of Sowams Road and Kent Street. The property had been a dry-cleaning business, but Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid gutted the structure and turned it into a convenience store, with a future plan to include a restaurant on the property.

Ms. Al-Sinayyid said she approached Mr. Speaker more than a year ago and asked him what she needed to do to sell hot food at Sowams Variety. 

"He said we have permission to sell pre-made sandwiches, 'But if you want to be a restaurant, you must have chairs,'" Ms. Al-Sinayyid recalled. "So that's why we went to the zoning board. We didn't talk about the kitchen because if we had the seats, we had everything."

Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid attended the Feb. 16, 2017 zoning board meeting where their application was heard. They had proposed adding an outdoor picnic table and two small tables with chairs inside the business — the proposal required a special use permit for "restaurant without alcoholic beverages," and a special use permit "for restaurant with outdoor seating."

After four hours of discussion, zoning board member Mark Freel made a motion to approve the special use permit portion that allowed for the convenience store to be converted to a restaurant under two conditions. First, the restaurant area was limited to eight indoor seats. And second, a section of the business needed to remain a convenience store. The board denied the outdoor seating request.

Mr. Freel's motion was approved 5-0.

In its reason for the decision, the board wrote, in part, "the public convenience and welfare will be substantially served; there will be no negative impact on the public because there has been a lot of support for the addition of restaurant seating, and there is no evidence that there would be any adverse impact." The decision was signed by zoning board chairman Thomas Kraig and dated March 7, 2017.

Mr. Al-Chalabi said he saw Mr. Speaker at the town hall a short time after the hearing. He said Mr. Speaker congratulated him and his wife. Mr. Al-Chalabi said there had even been a discussion with town officials about changing the business's sign to include "Cafe" or "Restaurant."

Ms. Al-Sinayyid said she and her husband did not have enough money in 2017 to purchase the oven and vent.

"Now we do," she said. "We don't come back again to Bob Speaker because we already had it (special use permit)."

Mr. Al-Chalabi and Ms. Al-Sinayyid paid a local restaurant supply company to install the oven vent, but when officials from that company went to the town hall to pull a building permit for the work recently, Mr. Speaker would not grant it.

"Bob says 'Can't give a permit — you are a restaurant without a kitchen,'" said Mr. Al-Chalabi. 

Mr. Al-Chalabi said a business cannot be a restaurant and not have a kitchen. 

"Where do I make the food? The kitchen has to be a kitchen," he said.

Mr. Speaker said the testimony offered during the zoning board meeting clearly showed that the owners of Sowams Variety only planned to sell pre-made sandwiches, salads and dips in the store's refrigerators. 

"Those were his words," said Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Al-Chalabi said the minutes from the meeting are not a clear reflection of everything that was said: "It's 10 percent," he said.

The store owners said they later had a meeting with Mr. Speaker and Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha. Ms. Al-Sinayyid said Mr. Speaker offered different accounts of their interactions with him during the meeting. They said they believe Mr. Speaker was discriminating against them.

"Absolutely," said Mr. Muhanad. "Everything we did, it was a fight."

Mr. Speaker said he is not discriminating against anyone. He said he is simply following the rules, adding that it is his job to make sure businesses are following the building codes and zoning codes.

Mr. Al-Chalabi said he is following the rules.

"I'm not asking for the town to look the other way. I have a special use permit," he said.