SOMERS POINT — City Council voted to table an ordinance that would allow certain liquor license holders to extend their outdoor music past 11 p.m. on a trial basis.
“Some more information has been gathered. The ordinance itself, the way it’s written, is not what the original proposal was,” Council President Kirk Gerety said June 25. “Several council people have approached me with second thoughts on this, which changes the vote tally to at least four to three.”
Gerety said Police Chief Robert Somers is “very adamant on not doing this because of enforcement problems.”
Because of that, he said, Mayor Dennis Tapp was considering vetoing the measure if it passed.
“In order to overturn a veto, you need a supermajority, which does not exist at this time. So with that, I would like a motion to table this,” Gerety said.
Members voted May 28 to introduce ordinance 14-2026, which amended the alcoholic beverage, noise and time limit sections of city code, permitting outdoor music until 1 a.m. for businesses that are more than 100 feet away from a residential property. The new rules would have expired Dec. 31, 2026, unless extended for as long as one year.
The issue came about as a result of Gary Holloway v. City of Somers Point, in which Holloway, owner of The Point, sued the city based on the police department’s enforcement of an 11 p.m. deadline.
City code currently prohibits unnecessary noise, all loud noise resulting from musical instruments, bands mechanical musical devices and/or any sound reproduction device, and live entertainment or patrons, from either the inside or outside of any commercial establishment, which noise is plainly audible at a distance of 100 feet from the place where it emanates between the hours of 11 p.m. and noon of the following day.
The amended ordinance stated that any establishment possessing a retail consumption license whose property line is more than 100 feet away from the property line of any residential property may extend music for two hours.
Gerety said the amendment would apply only to The Point on Bay Avenue.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff