West Hartford OKs Rules For Indoor Amusement Operations

WEST HARTFORD, CT — In a move that helps Blue Back Square, local leaders have approved ordinance revisions allowing indoor amusement venues to stay open later and restrict access by age because they can serve alcohol.

The West Hartford Town Council voted unanimously 8-0 Jan. 10 to amend town ordinances governing businesses in what is called Central Business District-High Intensive (CBDH) areas of town.

Those new rules will allow those businesses, namely indoor amusement establishments featuring games of skill (arcade games, miniature golf, video games, go-kart racing, etc.) to stay open very late on Friday and Saturday nights.

The rules also allow these establishment to restrict patrons by age because alcohol can/will be served at them.

Rules regarding such CBDH areas are under the purview of the council, which is why a public hearing in December and the subsequent Jan. 10 vote was required.

Currently, there are some vacancies at Blue Back, a prime destination shopping/entertainment destination in West Hartford, located at 65 Memorial Road.

This has been an issue in recent months, with Blue Back Square officials saying the shopping/entertainment industry is changing and such establishments are more in vogue.

It's hoped the new rules approved by West Hartford will allow Blue Back, and other facilities in town, to recruit recreational/entertainment operations to their facilities.

West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith said the West Hartford Plan and Zoning Commission endorsed the changes, saying they fall within the town's plan of conservation and development.

The PZC last Dec. 5 voted to endorse the proposal as such.

In addition, Ledwith said local leaders did tweak earlier versions of the changes, limiting the late-night hours to just Fridays and Saturdays (where 1 a.m. the following morning would be the closure time).

Earlier versions, Ledwith said, would have allowed the late nights all week long.

It was decided to modify the days of the week impacted due to concerns expressed regarding too many nights of revelry.

West Hartford Deputy Mayor Liam Sweeney supported the new rules, but he quoted the Spiderman Marvel comic's famous saying in issuing a warning to current and future developers — namely to make sure the celebrations don't get out of hand.

"There is a saying that people are familiar with from a famous comic book movie and that is 'With great power comes great responsibility.' I do want to make that very clear," Sweeney said, later adding "we really want and need this to be held up on the other side."

Ultimately, town officials want a healthier development scene in town and helping facilities like Blue Back is seen as key to that.

"This was the subject of a public hearing, previously. I think a few of us stated at the public hearing that its important for us to work with one of our largest developers in town and make sure that we are planning for the future as retail and commerce changes," West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said. "This, we think, does that well."

"Hopefully, this change to our ordinance with respect to the timeframe will prove to be helpful and will allow the owners the flexibility necessary to recruit a quality tenant to be successful," added Councilman Leon Davidoff last week.

"We need to have people frequent our central business district. We want to encourage people to come to West Hartford."

For the minutes of the Jan. 10 West Hartford Town Council meeting, click on this link.

For the full ordinance approved by the council, click on this link and scroll to Page 381.