BLUE HILL, Maine — After months of discussion, the Blue Hill select board hopes to address concerns over concerts hosted by Main Street restaurant Blaze at a public hearing Tuesday.
The public hearing is for the eatery’s liquor license and special amusement permit. Liquor licenses for restaurants and bars are regulated by the state. Blue Hill’s special amusement ordinance, which has been on the books since 1978, requires a permit be issued for live music, dancing or entertainment in local businesses that sell liquor. Both permits need Select Board approval before moving forward.
The restaurant has held concerts at its outdoor venue all summer. Neighbors came to the Select Board with noise complaints, saying the frequent concerts have been too loud and gone too late. In July, the town found that Blaze had not gotten the required special amusement permit for its concerts.
At the Select Board’s request, Code Enforcement Officer Martin Conant sent an official notice informing Blaze of the problem on Aug. 25. But errors in the notice caused confusion between the town and Blaze owner Matt Haskell, a Blue Hill resident who also operates restaurants in Bangor, Bar Harbor and Camden.
At an Oct. 6 Select Board meeting, Haskell said he “ultimately takes responsibility” for the issue, but that he was unaware of the amusement permit violations and never received the town’s notice.
The town’s notice of violation lists Beto Guajardo as the violator and property owner. Guajardo, who is listed with an address in Atlanta, Georgia, is the president and CEO of Blaze Pizza, a similarly named chain of pizza restaurants that has hundreds of locations across the country. It lists the registered agent as Paracorp Inc., a company with an address in Tallahassee, Florida.
According to the Maine secretary of state’s online corporate database, Blaze Blue Hill is owned by Pub Ciao LLC. Haskell is listed as the registered agent, with a mailing address in Blue Hill.
The notice was sent via certified mail to the two out-of-state addresses and to the Blue Hill restaurant itself.
At the meeting, the board agreed that the notices were likely mailed to the wrong addresses. Town Clerk Dana Goettler confirmed that the violation sent directly to the restaurant’s Main Street address was returned as undeliverable.
If the ongoing concerts at the restaurant continued to be a problem, especially as his business goes to renew its liquor license, Haskell said he was willing to stop them altogether.
“In the end, if it can’t work, we’ll cancel the music,” Haskell said.
Select Board member Amanda Woog said the permitting issue, at least in part, involves the level of enforcement the town is able to conduct, especially as it struggles to fill open positions at the town office.
Whether it’s a simple noise complaint or a permit issue, Woog said the town “relies on people to know their neighbors, listen to their neighbors, to know their concerns.”
“Part of my frustration is the monthslong lapse,” Woog said. “When it falls through on [Haskell’s] end, people start coming to us, and we feel like our hands are tied.”
The board voted unanimously to hold the public hearing at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in the town hall. It also approved extending Blaze’s liquor license for an additional two days, so it officially expires on the day of the hearing.
The hearing will be open to the public. According to the town’s ordinance, the penalty for failing to acquire an amusement permit is a fine between $25 and $50. The Select Board also has the authority to deny or put specific conditions on the restaurant’s liquor license and amusement permit.
Select Board member Scott Miller said the public hearing will give both town officials and residents a chance to discuss the issue. He suggested Haskell get in touch with any concerned neighbors before the public hearing and come to a “mutually acceptable agreement.” Haskell agreed.
“I’m not looking to have any problems whatsoever,” Haskell said.
Blue Hill resident Rich Boulet, who lives on High Street, has repeatedly brought up Blaze concerts with the Select Board. In an interview, Boulet said he was concerned by the restaurant’s lack of adherence to the town’s entertainment rules, which allow the public to voice their concerns directly to the business owner through the mandatory public hearing. While he generally supports live entertainment in town, Boulet said he took issue with the frequency, noise level and length of Blaze’s concerts.
If the restaurant, its neighbors and the town nail down “reasonable expectations on the time of day, frequency and noise level” of the concerts, Boulet said it would be easier to “keep an open mind” about them.
Other permit problems
Blaze’s failure to get a special amusement permit is not the restaurant’s only permitting problem. At the Oct. 6 meeting, Miller said he could not find records of building permits for recent construction on the property. Building permits are issued either by the code enforcement officer or the planning board and have their own specific procedures separate from liquor licenses and amusement permits.
Haskell said he knew that his restaurant’s new outdoor stage was built without a permit but was unaware of any other permitting issues. The Select Board agreed it would like to see the proper paperwork completed for any new construction at Blaze and suggested Haskell consult the Planning Board and code enforcement officer to rectify the problem.