Westbrook city councilors have made it clear – they don’t want a bar on Brown Street.
The city’s Municipal Officers, which include the councilors and the mayor, voted Monday to deny liquor and amusement licenses for Brown Street resident Allen Moore to reopen the Skybox Bar and Grill.
Though the councilors said they believed Moore and his wife, Lynn, had the best intentions to run a reputable business, they still thought a bar on Brown Street would only add to the problems that already exist in the area.
“The Pope himself could bring this forward and I wouldn’t support it,” Council President Brendan Rielly said, emphasizing that his vote against approving the licenses had to do with the location and not the applicant.
He said the same was true when he voted against renewing licenses to former owners Tom and Ellen Dore.
In March, the City Council denied the Dores a liquor license, along with four other licenses that permitted the Skybox to serve food and have a pool room, pinball machines and music, citing the number of police calls and neighborhood disturbances as the primary reasons for denial.
During Monday’s public comment period, the Moores said their establishment would be different from the former Skybox. They said they would open later and close earlier. They said they planned to focus on happy hours with open mic nights, comedy and pool leagues.
“People won’t be drinking too late or too long,” Allen Moore said.
However, when Rielly attempted to amend the proposal so that last call would be at 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, the Moores said closing the bar before midnight on the weekends would not make the business economically viable.
Though none of the councilors supported the amendment, Rielly pointed out that the Moores’ dependence on liquor sales after 10 p.m. to make the business work was inconsistent with the plan they presented – to focus on happy hour and not have people drinking late into the night or for long periods of time.
“This establishment in this area is a toxic mix,” he said. “It’s a recipe for trouble.”
According to Police Chief Bill Baker, since the Skybox has been closed, the same problems have persisted in Frenchtown, but they’re confined to homes.
“We continue to struggle with some rather serious criminal behavior in the neighborhood,” Baker said, adding that reopening the bar would likely “re-stimulate some challenges.”
One Brown Street resident who spoke out against approving the license said he, too, thought a bar would only worsen problems.
“People pull into my driveway and ask kids on the street for drugs,” Marcel Ouellette said about the criminal behavior he’s already seen since moving into the neighborhood.
Though Ouellette moved to Frenchtown after the former Skybox was already closed, he said he knew about the history of the bar and it gave him cause for concern. He said he didn’t want to see “people stumble out of the bar at all hours.”
The only other neighbor who spoke at the meeting countered Ouellette. James Tranchemontagne, a resident of Cole Street and the owner of the Frog and Turtle restaurant on Bridge Street, said he’s been going to the Skybox for three years and never had a problem.
“They did a great job of managing their clientele,” he said about the Dores, adding that their improvements to the outside of the bar made the street corner nicer than it had ever been.
“We need to see businesses grow on that side of the river,” he said.
Tranchemontagne also told councilors that restricting the hours could really hurt the bar, which would already be competing in “a very tough business.” He said he moved his restaurant from Portland to Westbrook because of the city’s willingness to work with him and couldn’t believe the difference in treatment given to two restaurants that are so close in proximity.
“I’m just dumbfounded that we’re talking about a half-mile difference,” he said.
At first, the Municipal Officers agreed to make a provision to the proposal that the Moores return to the city for a review after six months. However, in the end, they split the vote 3-3, with councilors Rielly, Dotty Aube and John O’Hara opposed, and the motion failed.
Still, the Municipal Officers continued voting on the other licenses the Moores applied for, at the advice of City Solicitor Bill Dale, granting them a victualer’s license, a pool room license and a pinball license, all in votes of 4-2, with Aube and O’Hara opposed. They split the vote again, 3-3, with Aube, O’Hara and Rielly opposed, on an amusement license.
According to Dale, the two licenses denied can be brought back to the council for reconsideration by any one of the councilors on the opposing side.
The Moores declined to comment after the meeting.
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