CJ’s keeps liquor license

Neighbors and owners work out deal

Jul, 01-2009 6:26 pm

By CLAIRE LOWE
Staff Writer

NORTH CAPE MAY—Neighbors and the owners of a local bar were able to compromise on a deal for outside operations, after the Lower Township Council decided to postpone the renewal of a liquor license for CJ’s American Grill in North Cape May during the June 15 council meeting.
During that meeting, Mayor Mike Beck and the other members of council said that they had received numerous complaints and even a petition from the neighbors adjacent to the property about the recently added outdoor dining and bar area at CJ’s on Bayshore Road, which was converted from a Wawa convenience store in early 2008. The complaints cited loud music, fights and even urinating on neighbors’ fences.
“It’s just things that go with a bar,” township manager Kathleen McPherson explained.
The council decided that, due to the complaints, they would hold off on renewing the establishment’s liquor license, which was to expire June 30, 2009. A public hearing was supposed to be scheduled on the license renewal, but McPherson brought together the neighboring residents and the establishment’s owners, Cecil Bryan and Jim Hanson, Thursday, June 25, for an informal meeting to resolve some of their differences.
“It went very well. We got everything we needed out in the open,” Carol Paget, who lives directly behind the CJ’s on Fieldview Drive, said of the meeting.
The stipulations of the agreement were put into a resolution that was passed at a special council meeting on June 29. Those special conditions on the license renewal include: the outside patio area can only be used as a waiting/smoking area for dining patrons with no table service or food consumption, there can be no more than 12 tables outside and the bar area cannot have seating, there can be no live music outside and recorded music, as well as sound from a large screen television at the bar, is permitted, but must comply with the township noise ordinance, the patio can only be open from noon until 10 p.m., and there will be no signs advertising or indicating the outside area as a bar.
Also, as part of the agreement, the owners agreed to plant evergreen trees, although the type was not specified, along the back of the property line to create a buffer, and install no parking signs along the existing asphalt driveway.
The outside bar area was fairly new. According to Bryan, he didn’t obtain a permit for it until July 2008. The live music was even newer, and Bryan said that they stopped the outdoor music after just one complaint.
“Really it was the live music…I got a phone call, one phone call and then we stopped the music,” he said.
Paget said the music was a major concern, especially with her early morning work hours. She said that there was never a real problem until they opened the outdoor bar.
Other problems that Paget cited were noise associated with the emptying of bottles near closing, around 3 a.m., fights, trash and urinating on her fence, which she said was also broken.
“They seem like good people. We’ll straighten it out now,” she said.
“We work real hard to keep everything in check,” Bryan said. “Like Mr. Conrad said, it should have been handled like it was, privately.”