By: David Weinstein
A liquor license for the South Brunswick Manor on Route 1 was renewed Tuesday despite complaints from neighbors.
Residents of Henderson Road complained of noise coming from the establishment on weekend nights and said there is a lack of parking on the site. That often leads to double- and triple-parked cars, making entering and leaving the Manor’s parking lot difficult.
The council approved the license renewal 3-1, but included stipulations the catering hall and restaurant must follow, including strict adherence to township code and noise ordinances.
Councilman Ed Luciano cast the dissenting vote. Councilman Frank Gambatese was absent.
If the license was not renewed this week, it would have expired.
“I think this is a fair result for both of us,” Woody Patel, owner of the South Brunswick Manor, said after the vote. “I have nothing against the residents and I’ll try my best to make them happy.”
The resolution requires Manor personnel to be placed at doors and windows to make sure they’re closed, and to test the amplification system prior to and throughout the night. Also, it requires parking measures that conform to township code, waivers to be signed by disc jockeys who perform at the Manor and no more than one event to be held at a time.
If on-site parking is not sufficient for an expected number of patrons, the Manor also must provide transportation to and from the site. The details of this stipulation are to be worked out in the near future between Assistant Township Attorney Don Sears and Mr. Patel’s attorney, Ronald Taylor.
Mr. Luciano charactered the resolution as “over-regulation” and as a “Pandora’s box” of government interference. He said the township never before has added conditions to a liquor license.
“You now have the ‘Uncle’ in your living room,” Mr. Luciano said to the large crowd at the public hearing. He said he was concerned with the precedent the township government was setting and referring to Uncle Sam looking over the shoulder’s of the country’s citizens in their daily lives.
Lew Schwartz of Henderson Road, who is concerned about parking problems and safety on Henderson Road, said after the meeting he has a wait-and-see attitude toward the resolution.
“I think the transportation solution could possibly work,” he said. Mr. Schwartz said he often has seen the parking lot so full that emergency vehicles can’t get into it. But, he said, transportation to and from the establishment provided by the Manor could work.
“The problem is, who’s going to monitor this?” he said. “Busing could possibly help. I hope it’s monitored closely. I know we’ll be watching, because we’re here for the long term. We’ll report any violation, but I didn’t expect otherwise.”
Mr. Luciano said if the laws of the township were followed, the conditions on the renewal would be unnecessary.
“The only problem is that the township code has not been enforced,” he said.
Council members said Tuesday the license, which must be renewed each year, will be closely scrutinized in the coming months. If any transgressions occur during the next year, the license will be looked at again next year, Councilman Ted Van Hessen said.
A public hearing was held on the matter after a Henderson Road resident, Greg Rule, whose property line is adjacent to the Manor, sent a formal complaint to the Township Clerk’s Office. Mr. Patel, accompanied by his attorney, Ronald Taylor, also spoke at the hearing.
According to state statute, once a formal complaint is lodged by a resident, a public hearing must take place.
Several residents took the opportunity Tuesday night to voice their concerns. They said noise and parking problems were lowering their quality of life.
“Since April, our weekends have been a living nightmare,” Mr. Rule said. “The noise is intrusive to the point that it’s degrading our quality of life. The owners continue to thumb their noses at township agencies and at me,” he said.
Mr. Rule was referring to abatement hearings in May and June with the township’s health officer that he and Mr. Patel attended, as well as other administrative hearings. During those meetings, the Manor agreed to certain conditions of operation. These included periodic walk-arounds of the establishment’s property line to determine if noise from inside was too loud and an agreement to keep a rear fire door closed at all times to help keep the sound inside.
But Mr. Rule said those agreements were not kept, and his formal complaint to the township was the result.
Township noise ordinances state that sound, if it travels over a property line, can be considered a nuisance.
Mr. Taylor told the council the matter had nothing to do with the establishment’s liquor license, only noise.
“The service of alcohol is not the core of the problem here,” he said. “A liquor license should not be held hostage because of a noise problem. Mr. Patel has done and is willing to do anything the township wishes to fix this apparent problem,” Mr. Taylor said.
“It would be an injustice for the township to not renew this license,” he said.
Mayor Debra Johnson said she was for the adoption of the renewal resolution, so long as it contained stipulations concerning noise and parking.
“Neighbors have a right to a certain quality of life,” she said.
“But so, too, do our business neighbors have that right to conduct their business within the law,” Mayor Johnson said.
