If you’ve been following along with the endless saga of our permits, you know that we applied for a waiver back in September to get permission to have a stage at 443. We were approved for our special permit which included a waiver to allow us to have live acoustic music, but the Zoning Committee and the Common Council did not have the power to grant us permission for a stage – that had to go through a third committee, the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Our public hearing with the Board of Appeals finally happened today, and…WE GOT OUR WAIVER!!!
The issue was that while we (along with our neighbors on either side) are zoned for local business (bars and restaurants are okay), the street behind us is zoned as residential. Because the closest residential properties are within 300 feet, we had to get the waivers to have live entertainment and the stage.
It’s a bigger deal than it sounds like because if they granted this waiver for us, it would be attached to the property in perpetuity.
I submitted a boatload of documentation when we applied for the waiver and I pled our case in front of the committee today. I pointed out that elevating a performer 12-18″ would not affect the sound in the least, especially for the neighbors in question – they are located behind our parking lot, a treeline AND their parking lot. Also, speakers for a live performance would be elevated whether the performers were on a stage or not.
Rachel May (our new New York State senator!) sits on this board, and she pointed out that the waiver would stick with the property forever. So, while they understood that we are planning on acoustic music and an overall chill vibe, what if the next tenant wanted a loud rock club?
I pointed out that a loud band is a loud band…elevating them a foot off the floor isn’t going to affect that much.
In the end, they approved it – THANK GOD!
There really wasn’t a Plan B for this…if they denied it, I don’t know what we would have done. We could have still had live entertainment, but without the stage and it would have been pretty lame. We likely would have opened anyway since we’ve sunk so much money into the space, but we would have had to immediately start scouting out a new location and relocate.
The stage is already partially built because we didn’t realize it wasn’t allowed – the last couple bars in this location had a stage and live music. We didn’t know they weren’t compliant.
Now we can box it in, add steps and we’re off to the races.
It’s a good day in Listening Room Land.
Our last obstacle is a plumbing issue with the city and our liquor license – we’re almost there!
