The Tab Ramos Sports Center has been getting some attention lately from the Aberdeen Township Council and the Aberdeen Police due to neighborhood complaints, according to comments recorded in the minutes of the 16 March 2010 town council and a verbal report from this week's council meeting. The center, which is open until 2 am, offers adult parties in four-hour blocks complete with beer, wine, and house liquor. The center's clients are reportedly causing concerns among the local residents due to vehicular traffic into and out of the area, especially late at night, plus there's been a rash of illegal parking. The police have been issuing summonses and the center has hired police for Friday evenings until the season drops off, but the neighbors complain that the situation has changed their community for the worse and they don't want to have to move. One Councilman who has been to that street three times says it is a zoo. The 3/17 council minutes say that the center is being cooperative plus the issue is being dealt with by the Zoning Board, but the whole thing flared up again at this week's council meeting.
Here's a map showing you where the center is.
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Tab Ramos has approval to operate if they provide off-site parking. They failed to negotiate a renewal of the adjacent parking lot lease in December 2009. This has caused their patrons to park all over the streets of the development, even parking illegally. The Sports Center is totally disregarding their approval to operated their business and they neighborbood is fighting back. Good for them!!
ReplyDeleteIs the problem mostly on Friday nights with drinking patrons? Or is the problem that there are sports leagues that meet on various nights of the week that fill the area with cars? I could imagine the drinking being a problem, but then again the place could be filling up with cars like Strathmore Lanes, but jammed into a small neighborhood instead of a big parking lot. I hope things can be worked out between the two sides. We certainly don't need fewer businesses in town; nor do we want people to feel they have to move to keep their kids safe or to be able to sleep at night.
ReplyDeletePat - The problem is almost every night and all day and night Saturdays and Sundays. It is not the drinking as much as the greed of the owners, as they schedule many things in a small span of time. And they have leagues scheduled to start as early as 7AM and as late at midnight. So that means that at 1AM, when they are done playing, they are walking to cars, talking, slamming doors, clicking alarms when their cars are parked in front of peoples homes. I think Aberdeen needs good businesses in town, not ones that disrespect the neighborhood and the rules of the town.
ReplyDeleteSo where does this issue stand with the township council at this point? The minutes of the 17 March meeting were rather disjointed and I've not seen minutes of the 6 April meeting yet. Is this still being addressed in the public concerns portion of the council meetings?
ReplyDeleteSo what's next? I hope local residents get some satisfaction besides a bunch of parking tickets being issued. The council probably is hoping that the end of the sports center's busy season will mean the issue will quiet down. But you'll be faced with the same problem again, if it goes away at all.
Pat, The council has done minimal to pacify the neighborhood. We want them to be fined because they are in violation and the code enforcement rules provide for it. The town has said they are working on it, yet 4 months have passed. They have not submitted any applications and since they knew they were not going to pay the increased rent, they should have started getting everything they needed last year and had it ready prior to the end of the lease. They are just greedy people whos patrons have no respect for anything. I am not sure who the council is letting one business break the law and get away with it. Yet, if I were to put a sign up on my lawn noting a contractor doing work at my house, I would get fined every day. Go figure? That hurts no one and it is prohibited yet what they are doing effects over 27 homes and they have gotten away with it for 4 months with no ramifications. Makes you wonder who is doing what.
ReplyDeleteAn article in The Independent says the judge levied a fine at the last Council meeting, but I had heard that nothing was actually decided regarding a fine for the owners, although the matter was discussed. What's really going on?
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