BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — A limit of 200 patrons at a time will be allowed in the Breakfast Club 80, and no valet parking can be offered there under an order issued yesterday by a Middlesex County Superior Court judge.
An injunction issued by Superior Court Judge Robert Longhi in New Brunswick means the Route 516 establishment must operate within the limits set by the township’s code enforcement office and the conditions of a liquor license renewal granted in October by the Township Council.
Township Attorney Jerome Convery and Mayor Jim Phillips confirmed Longhi’s ruling late yesterday afternoon.
Ongoing complaints from area residents about noise and unruly crowds at the 1980s-themed club prompted Old Bridge officials to seek the injunction against the one-year-old establishment last month.
According to the conditions of his liquor license renewal, the club owned by Michael Vanleeuwen is limited to 200 patrons at a time. A township fire marshal reported seeing 340 patrons inside the building on a Saturday night last month.
Vanleeuwen is also prohibited from using valet parking within or outside his 67-space lot. Neighbors have told officials that valets were parking vehicles on nearby streets.
Under Longhi’s ruling, Vanleeuwen must comply with the township’s occupancy limit and will not be permitted to offer valet parking, Convery said.
On April 21, Old Bridge officials will again testify before Longhi that the building is being operated as a "dance hall," and not as a restaurant with a bar, Convery said. The township is trying to prove that Vanleeuwen violated the terms of his certificate of occupancy, which is for a restaurant with a bar.
Code enforcement officers who have visited the Breakfast Club on various occasions have reported seeing a dance floor where tables and chairs are supposed to be located, Convery said.
If Longhi agrees with the township that the Breakfast Club is a dance hall, the judge can order Vanleeuwen to seek a use variance for that purpose from the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, the attorney explained. Vanleeuwen might also need to apply for a variance to offer valet parking, Convery added.
"We will pursue the idea that he is operating as a dance hall and that he needs a variance for that," Convery said.
Both Convery and Phillips stressed that they simply want Vanleeuwen to comply with the township, not to shut his business down.
"Nobody wants to put him out of business. We just want him to operate within the terms of the zoning ordinances," Phillips said.
Neither Vanleeuwen or a representative of his attorney’s office could be immediately reached for this story.