A question of balance: Morristown residents speak against DeHart Street bowling alley/bar

0

As residents took turns Wednesday night sounding off against a bowling alley/bar proposed for DeHart Street, one word kept popping up:

Balance.

“What is it going to take– lawsuits, or someone being killed before we do anything?” asked Tricia Rosenkilde of Macculloch Avenue. “Morristown is quickly becoming known as a drinking destination. The proposed site isn’t the kind of place you want to take your kids after 6 pm. It isn’t that kind of place, it just isn’t that kind of place. . .We don’t know how much longer we are going to be here. We seem to have lost balance in the town.”

Watch videos of testimony.

Billy Walsh listens to public comments during liquor license hearing. Photo by Berit Ollestad
Billy Walsh listens to public comments during liquor license hearing. Photo by Berit Ollestad

Billy Walsh, whose family owns three bars in Morristown (with a fourth approved earlier in the evening), appeared before the town council seeking permission to transfer a liquor license to 10 DeHart St., where he envisions a two-story restaurant and bar with 12 bowling lanes and rooftop entertainment.

But after two hours of testimony that included some blistering comments from residents, the council adjourned the meeting until July 18.

One Community Place resident brought his own attorney, former Morristown Mayor Jay DeLaney, who cross-examined Billy and partner Christopher Knoll with intensity worthy of Law and Order.

The residents needed little help, however. Their grievances were many and their questions, pointed.

They inquired about parking problems and air conditioner noise and trash pickups and dumpster-diving racoons and skunks.

They complained about beer bottles on their lawns, and about being awakened in the middle of the night by drunk drivers crashing into walls. Sidewalks, they said, are littered with chewing gum and vomit.

“When do we say enough is enough!” declared Katheen Hyland, owner of Ginty’s Gifts on DeHart Street.

“In order for Morristown to grow and prosper, it has to be a livable city.  If it isn’t liveable it won’t prosper,” added Marie Rozan of the 40 Park luxury condos.

“A bowling alley does not  belong in a residential neighborhood. Stop bothering us; enough is enough,” said Sergio Burani, a photographer who lives on DeHart Street.

Chris Knoll described plans for seven-day-per-week operations, from 9 am to 2 am each day, with seating for 213 people. The

Former Morristown Mayor Jay DeLaney questions applicants about proposed liquor license transfer. Photo by Berit Ollestad
Former Morristown Mayor Jay DeLaney questions applicants about proposed liquor license transfer. Photo by Berit Ollestad

Dark Horse Lounge and Tashmoo, two other Walsh family bars on DeHart, have a combined capacity of 408, he told Assistant Town Attorney Elnardo Webster II.

Councilwoman Alison Deeb produced figures purporting to show that the DeHart Street parking garage cannot handle another bar, not since the opening of the Iron Bar on South Street a few weeks ago.

Local parking will become even more scarce if and when housing replaces the Wells Fargo parking lot on DeHart, council members said.

Chris also spoke of music–live or via deejays–on the rooftop until midnight. That did not go over too well, either. Nor did his pledge to clean up the street…within five feet of the building.

The license transfer application is in the name of Gracie Sunshine LLC, and lists Billy’s wife Susan at the majority stakeholder with Chris and David Gsell holding smaller slices of the venture. Billy described himself as a manager, and the person who actually will purchase the DeHart Street property if local approvals are granted.

A stately house sits there now. Billy said he has spoken with salon owner Peter Kaphouris about moving it from 10 DeHart to an abandoned gas station owned by Peter at the corner of Macculloch and Mount Kemble avenues. Peter moved this same house once before, from Pine Street to DeHart, in 2002.  A resident proposed donating the structure to the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity; the applicants vowed to explore that idea.

TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE…

The meeting had some light moments.

When Jay DeLaney asked Billy if he knew about all the public urination, Billy shot back:

“I’ve never publicly urinated!”

Spectators hissed when Chris suggested that clients of the Market Street Mission were the urinators.

While expressing sympathy for the plight of Morristown residents, Billy, who lives in Madison, stopped short of accepting responsibility. After all, who knows which bar –or liquor store– a bottle came from?

Resident Richard Herburger takes oath while Sergio Burani signs up to testify in Morristown liquor license hearing
Resident Richard Herburger takes oath while Sergio Burani signs up to testify in Morristown liquor license hearing

“Bars should consider working together to create some sort of clean-up task force and patrol the community and clean up after their patrons,” Billy said.

He found common ground with Christine Conti-Collins, who lambasted the council for approving the Iron Bar, with a capacity north of 700 people, without imposing requirements for parking, garbage pickup or anything else.

“The Iron Bar wreaked havoc in the neighborhood during the construction phase,” said Christine, a resident of 40 Park.

“I’m not here to advocate for the Walshes, they can do that themselves.  But I would ask that you apply the ordinances and regulations fairly to all of the establishments. The same conditions should apply to all applicants as they do to this applicant. Morristown is not Brooklyn and it is the town’s responsibility to enforce the ordinances.”

“I think Christine Conti-Collins had a lot of good ideas,” Billy said afterward. “She’s looking for solutions.”

In the end, zoning may carry the day.

“The town decides where you can put a bar and where you can put a restaurant,” said Robert Williams, attorney for the applicants. “They’ve told us that’s the place to put it. That’s why we’re here.”

MG Correspondent Berit Ollestad contributed to this report.

WAITING THEIR TURN: Partners in 10 DeHart St. venture at start of Morristown hearing. From left: David Gsell, Susan Walsh, Billy Walsh and Chris Knoll. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
WAITING THEIR TURN: Partners in 10 DeHart St. venture at start of Morristown hearing. From left: David Gsell, Susan Walsh, Billy Walsh and Chris Knoll. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

LEAVE A REPLY