How Loud Is Too Loud In South Seaside Park?

by Patricia A. Miller

Next time you see someone relieving themselves in public, make sure you get their name and address before you file a complaint.

That was the advice a Berkeley Township police officer had for two South Seaside Park residents who came to the July 14 Township Council meeting to complain about noise and other problems at Bum Rogers restaurant on Central Avenue.

Ellen Wassong and Carol Luciano said it's becoming increasingly difficult living near the restaurant, a South Seaside Park landmark.

Wassong said she was "fully aware" the restaurant was there when she bought her home in 2007. But this year things are worse because of a new outside bar.

"I can't even sit and read a book," she said. "The music is so loud...it's into my living room. You can't even sit in your own condo and have a meal."

Wassong said the noise is so bad at times that she goes for a three-hour walk, then comes back home.

"I hope we can count on you," she told the council. "I don't find peace in my summer home anymore."

Resident Carol Luciano said she woke up to the sounds of a fight outside the restaurant one night. Bum Rogers also has a "25-cent beer night"  one night a week, which adds to the problems, she said.

"Let's go!," one audience member quipped.

Township Council members approved a resolution at the June council meeting setting the conditions for renewing Bum Rogers' plenary retail consumption liquor license.

All music in the outside area must stop at 10 p.m. The outside area can remain open until 11 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday, and until midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays, according to the resolution.

The liquor license approval in June came after listening to several other residents' complaints and owner Gary Jablonski and his attorney Ron Gasierowski.
 
"I promise you, we are not going to get wild there," Jablonski said at the previous meeting. "We can't be any more of a better neighbor. It's families and kids and music."

Jablonski's attorney Ron Gasiorowski said noise is "a very regulated event' by both the state Department of Environmental Protection and local ordinances

"We intend to fully comply with noises ordinances already existing within the municipality and the state," Gasiorowski said."If it's determined we are in violation, we will remedy that."

Jablonski said the outdoor music is not loud bands.

"I have some guy singing 'Day-O,' Harry Belafonte," Jablonski said. "And it wasn't even a good imitation."

William Carvellus, 22nd Avenue, said at the June meeting that even though the seating capacity of the Central Avenue restaurant has increased, parking has not.

Gasiorowski said at the June meeting that the restaurant was located in a commercial zone. But he was quickly corrected by Township Council President James J. Byrnes.

"It's not a commercial zone," Byrnes said. "It's a neighborhood business zone."

Township Administrator Christopher Reid met with South Seaside Park residents shortly before the July 14 meeting. He urged residents to call the police about problems and not try to handle them on their own.

"We don't expect you to be the police," he said. "We are going to address these issues."