[dstf] FW: Objection to Alcoholic Beverages & Entertainment Licenses at 187 Elm Street
josiah lee auspitz
Dear DSFT list,
RESIDENTIAL ABUTTORS TO 187 ELM STREET WHO ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE SEPT 14 MEETING HAVE ASKED THAT THE FOLLOWING MEMO BE CIRCULATED AND CONSIDERED IN THEIR ABSENCE. lee
From: Matthew
Sullivan [mailto:mes...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009
11:39 AM
To: jlau...@comcast.net
Subject: Objection to Alcoholic
Beverages & Entertainment Licenses at 187 Elm Street
To: Members of the Davis Square Task Force
From: Matthew Sullivan & Preeti Mehta, 12 Windom St; abutters to 187 Elm Street
Re: Notice of Objection to Alcoholic Beverages & Entertainment Licenses at 187 Elm Street
My wife, Preeti Mehta, and I, Matthew Sullivan, oppose the request of Joe Cassinelli and the Alpine Restaurant Group, Inc. (the “Applicant”) for both liquor and entertainment licenses at 187 Elm Street, Somerville, MA (the “Property”). We are unable to attend the Davis Square Task Force meeting on Monday, September 14, 2009, so are providing the following summary to convey our views.
We live at 12 Windom Street and share a fence line with the Property. We are opposed to the liquor and entertainment licenses because (I) we believe that patrons who have consumed alcoholic beverages will disturb our quiet enjoyment of our property, (II) that increased traffic will create parking problems for our neighborhood, (III) the owner of the Property has not met the conditions under which a Special Permit and Variance were granted in March 1996, and (IV) that the Applicant has not requested the Special Permit and Variance required by its substantial Change of Use of the property.
I. QUIET ENJOYMENT
The Applicant seeks a license to operate using both indoor and outdoor seating. As such we will be subject to noise from loud patrons consuming alcohol outside the restaurant until midnight. Even during cold or inclement weather, patrons will gather outside the restaurant to smoke cigarettes which will result in alcohol-enhanced noise outside the building. Additionally, the starting and racing of car engines in a parking lot just below our bedroom window will prevent us from quietly enjoying an evening at home.
The Applicant may argue that he intends an operation that will not attract the elements described here. However, his patrons will consume alcohol; some will smoke cigarettes and race their engines to heat their cars more quickly. These characteristics are typical of many people who consume alcohol and not necessarily a “bad crowd.” In short, whatever the character of the patrons, they will be louder after consuming alcohol and will interfere with our quiet enjoyment of our home when they are outside the building. While the Applicant is requesting a license to operate until midnight, patrons leaving after midnight and restaurant cleaning including use of a dumpster will extend the time that noise will be created until much later.
The Applicant may also argue that any noise caused by patrons will be similar to the activity that has been licensed and occurred on the property since it was built in 1996. However, the restaurants at the property since it’s building in 1996 have been “fast order food establishments” which get dramatically less business as the evening gets later. Consequently, the property is typically closed or has very few patrons by 9:00 pm. A bar will attract patrons until it closes, and many will linger after closing as then do at other bars in Davis Square.
II. PARKING
The Applicant currently has a parking lot with nine on-site parking spaces. Zoning for a restaurant of this type and size generally requires 22 spaces, but the owner was granted a variance for 13 spaces in 1996. However, even the nine on-site spaces are not fully available to the Applicant. One is marked Handicapped, another is permanently allocated the to the neighboring Joey's Thai Cafe at 195 Elm Street, and a third is encumbered by dumpsters for all but the smallest of cars. Even if the Applicant had the use of all nine spaces, the change in use will necessitate more parking. According to the Applicant, the restaurant will no longer cater to walkers and bikers and other “faster order food” consumers, but will be targeted to a sophisticated, sit-down crowd that will be much more likely to drive to the restaurant that previous patrons have been.
III. OWNER COMPLIANCE WITH CURRENT SPECIAL PERMIT AND VARIANCE
The owner of 187 Elm was granted a special permit and variance in March 1996 for use as a fast order food establishment. The conditions placed upon the grant of the special permit and variance required the owner, among other things, to:
· Make best faith efforts to secure additional parking spaces
o None has been attained
· Locate a dumpster on the northern edge of the property behind the angled parking spaces and effectively enclosed and screened by a fence.
o The two dumpsters typically located there - one for Joey's Thai Cafe and one for 187 Elm - have never been enclosed and screened by a fence.
· Build an eight (8) foot fence along the abutters property line prior to the issuance of building permits.
o The fence is now eight feet high, but only because it was extended within the last four years.
The property owner seems to have ignored the requirements under which a Special Permit and Variance were granted. As such, abutters, neighbors and the city must be concerned about any assurances from the property owner.
IV. APPLICANT PROPOSES A SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE IN USE, AND THEREFORE REQUIRES A SPECIAL PERMIT WITH DESIGN REVIEW
a. The licensing commission shall not authorize or grant any entertainment or liquor license until it shall have been determined that the premises for which such license is requested conforms in all respects to the state building code and the building zone ordinance of the city. SZO § 2-220.
b. The Property is currently permitted to operate in the category “Fast order food establishments including franchises, subshops, pizza shops and the like, operations conducted, in part or in whole, outside an enclosed building 2,500 to 4,999 s.f. of gross floor area (Section 7.11.10.2.2.a) in accordance with a petition granted by the City of Somerville, Zoning Board of Appeals on March 20, 1996 and filed with the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
c. A Fast order food establishment is an establishment whose primary business is the sale of food for consumption on or off the premises which is: (a) primarily intended for immediate consumption rather than for use as an ingredient or component of meals; (b) available upon a short waiting time; (c) packaged or presented in such a manner that it can be readily eaten inside or outside the premises where it is sold; and, (d) which, because of the nature of the operation, causes or is a major contributor to a large volume or frequent turnover of vehicular traffic. SZO § 2.2.56.
d. The proposed use of the Property will change the use to “Restaurant, other than fast order food operations, in part or in whole, conducted outside an enclosed building 2,500 to 4,999 s.f. of gross floor area. SZO § 7.11.10.1
e. A Restaurant is any business establishment principally engaged in serving food, drink, or refreshments, whether prepared on or off site, to patrons eating on the premises. SZO § 2.2.139.
f. According to the Applicant’s description of the proposed use, it will be a “nice, sit down restaurant,” and proposes to sell alcoholic beverages. Both because (a) the proposed restaurant does not plan to package or present food in such a manner that it can be readily eaten inside or outside the premises where it is sold; and (b) because serving liquor to patrons is consistent only with patrons eating on the premises, the proposed use meets the definition of Restaurant within the meaning of SZO § 7.11.10.1 and not within the definition of SZO § 7.11.10.2.2.a.
g. A substantial change in use occurs when there is a change from one principal use, shown as an enumerated or lettered line item in the Table of Permitted Uses, to another principal use separately enumerated or lettered as a line item in the Table of Uses. SZO § 7.10. Such a change is proposed and requires a Special Permit with Design Review.
Matthew E. Sullivan
U.S. 617 848 4177