Selectmen OK Plans for American Legion Alterations

Selectmen last night OK'd the American Legion to finish off construction of their bar area after hearing responses from various department heads regarding allegations made by residents

Anthony Spinazola two weeks ago told selectmen people were being overserved at the establishment, people smoke within 30 feet of the building, and the noise is out of control. 

Police Chief James Murphy responded to the allegations. Murphy said since June 2009 there have been nine calls for police service, four of those in 2012.

"Had there been serious issues, the town manager would have been notified and the board aware of it ... The (calls) are mostly dealing with disturbance type activities and noise complaints. I do not view that as a problem location. I know there were concerns about disturbance calls but with the nature of the business, you're going to have those kind of problems," he said.

Murphy said the parking lot is an issue and needs to be striped, and owner Ed O'Neill will do that. Willis Drive needs to be more clearly marked by the town, Murphy said.

"I would urge anybody, neighbors, residents, patrons of any establishment, if there is an issue...a crime or any activity that is suspicious and disturbing, it should be reported. If it's not reported we don’t know about it and we can't address it," he said.

Building Commissioner Mark Dupell presented a pages-long report on the building to selectmen.

"Regarding occupant load, I did measurements of exits. There plenty of exits for people to get out, sprinkers are not required at this time. The loads were figured in before laws of 2004 based on the Station Night Club fire. The fire chief at the time was responsible for buildings built before 2004, occupancy was his jurisdiction and Jack Parrow felt sprinklers weren't needed," he said. 

As far as the glass bus stop looking smoking area, Dupell said it isn't an issue from his perspective but it is a Board of Health reguation that people cannot smoke within 30 feet of a building.

"I look at it as a self-contained building with its own filtration system," he said.

 Dupell responded to the allegation that if the alteration was done and an interior wall removed, that would trigger an increase in capacity.

"That does not necessarily increase capacity," he said. "Capacity is based on square feet, the exits and the type of use in a building. There is an exception where a building can official allow less capacity than allowed by calculation, so doesn’t automatically increase. It's my call regardless of size," he said.

Town ADA Coordinator Ralph Hickey said he also inspected the building and agreed with Dupell. Since the owner has not put more than one-third of the building's value into renovations, they are not required to become ADA compliant. Hickey said O'Neill does plan to do 

"The law changed in 1974 and the building was built before that, so they're trying to catch up with it. They're changing the bathrooms to make them fully accessible. The parking is vaguely marked with two handicapped spaces, which covers the parking lot. You need one space for every 25 cars, and two for up to 50 parking spaces. It's hard to find how many parking spaces there are there but I know it's not 50," he said.