By ERIC AVEDISSIAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Residents upset over dinner clubs that allow patrons to pay membership fees and bring alcohol to local eateries made their displeasure known at the Feb. 13 city council meeting.
Ocean City has had a long history of prohibiting alcohol sales and public consumption.
In 1879 four Methodist ministers, Ezra Lake, James Lake, S. Wesley Lake and William Burrell, established a Christian retreat and camp akin to one established at Ocean Grove.
It wasn’t until 1909 that the city passed a law prohibiting the sale or manufacturing of alcohol, making Ocean City a dry town.
In 1951 the city prohibited the delivery of wholesale merchandise on Sundays and forbid the consumption of alcohol on beaches.
The city passed an ordinance in 1958 forbidding the consumption of alcoholic beverages in public areas.
In 2012 a public referendum that would have allowed Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) in certain restaurants was overwhelmingly rejected, 3,137 to 1,425.
The referendum’s defeat was a victory for those who believed allowing BYOB would tarnish the city’s reputation as a family-friendly resort, even though alcohol is consumed in private homes and parties especially in summer months. Certain private clubs and organizations also allow alcoholic beverages for paying members.
But in recent years, dinner clubs have begun to appear, offering annual memberships that allow customers to bring and consume their own wine. The participating restaurants can host club members on certain nights, or hold the club in rooms only accessible to members.
In the past, exclusive clubs charging members fees have legally circumvented the city’s stringent laws regarding alcohol.
Cousin’s Restaurant at 104 Asbury Ave., Capt. Bob’s at 9 E. 55th St., Dockside Kitchen at 228 Bay Ave., and Jon & Patty’s Coffee Bar & Bistro, 637 Asbury Ave. host dinner clubs. The Flanders Hotel at 719 11th Street and the Boardwalk hosts Club 1923, its own members only dinner club.
Dinner clubs charge anywhere from $10 to $250 for annual memberships.
Asbury Avenue resident Susan Cracovaner told council there was a “significant” increase in the number of “BYOB dinner clubs” in Ocean City.
“Club 1923 is taking it a step further advertising a temporary membership for its Valentine’s dinner, essentially a no membership BYOB night,” Cracovaner said.
She cited the Ocean City Sentinel’s Dec. 11, 2019 article which quoted city officials as monitoring the clubs to make sure no laws are broken. The same article states there is no policy or regulation the city has that says if you follow these rules regarding private clubs.
Cracovaner said while the city doesn’t have specific ordinances regarding private clubs, the state does.
“Within these statutes and codes it specifies that the clubs be organized in pleasure, recreation or other nonprofitable purposes that earnings may not be to the benefit of a person having a personal and private interest in its activities and membership at the door or for one day does not confer membership,” Cracovaner said.
She said club designation permits these nonprofit organizations to sell alcohol beverages for consumption on site but does not include BYOB.
“Is what we have here really a purported loophole or is it an effort by restaurants to use backdoor tactics to bring BYOB to Ocean City?” Kracovaner said.
Marie Hayes said she and her husband David Hayes have gone door-to-door talking about BYOB and dinner clubs.
“People don’t want it, just like they didn’t want it when it was voted down 2-1 in 2012. Residents are also very upset that the restaurants are already doing BYOB and dinner clubs don’t even have to pay a license or permit fees,” Marie Hates said.
She said many tourists she’s spoken with have told her they opposed BYOB.
“They say they come here to vacation in Ocean City because it is dry and therefore safe. They can let their children walk on Asbury Avenue or go up to the Boardwalk alone at night without worries. They said that if Ocean City was not a dry town, they wouldn’t come here. Why waste money advertising when this will negatively affect tourism?” Marie Hayes said.
She added that home prices, tourism and rental prices will suffer if the town isn’t dry.
“When I drive into Philly over the Walt Whitman Bridge, I see a huge billboard with a little boy and girl playing n the beach beside the ocean. Yes, it’s for America’s Greatest Family Resort. And it sure doesn’t show the mother kicked back with a martini in her hand,” Marie Hayes said.
David Hayes said he’s concerned that the administration has “quietly opened the door to BYOB in a new form” with dinner clubs.
“This is just BYOB on steroids, for a price. BYOB is only restricted to beer and wine but the city’s new dinner clubs allow customers to bring their own beer, wine, and hard liquor,” David Hayes said.
He cited a 2019 article in the Ocean City Sentinel which quoted Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce who said dinner clubs were a new business model for restaurants in Ocean City.
“The administration says it’s legal. Really? We overwhelmingly rejected BYOB in 2012. So why didn’t the administration take steps to make sure there would never be BYOB in Ocean City? This administration decided to let BYOB sneak right in under our noses without a town meeting or discussion of any kind,” David Hayes said.
He said dinner clubs are “all about money and greed.”
“Everyone knows the big money is really in selling liquor licenses, and that will be next, with the city’s help, they already put their foot in the door,” David Hayes said.
Hayes said a public meeting for “those on the island interested in stopping BYOB in all its forms” will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Ocean City Free Public Library, Room N111.
City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson told the Ocean City Sentinel last December that dinner clubs are not in violation of the state’s BYOB statute or local ordinances banning alcohol consumption.
She said because the restaurants host dinner clubs and charge membership fees, they are private clubs open at certain hours for members only.
“As long as it’s not BYOB that they’re (the dinner clubs) doing, we have no ability to stop them. As long as they’re not serving alcohol or serving alcohol in public, permitting consumption of alcohol in public, I’ve got no means by which to stop them in what they do in a private club,” McCrosson said.