Essex House, Township Reach Settlement on Noise Violations

Essex House Restaurant in West Orange won't be throwing any major parties after the business reached a settlement with the township regarding two charges related to public disturbance and noise.

During a meeting before the West Orange Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control Tuesday night, headed by the township council, a resolution was approved prohibiting the restaurant from throwing public parties promoted through the Internet.

Kenneth Kayser, assistant attorney for the township, said the charges stemmed from and most recently, a February party that caused public disturbance and required police enforcement from West Orange and surrounding towns.

"The main source of the problem is the noise," Kayser said. He added that party goers often park in residential streets and congregate in large groups causing disturbances to neighboring residents. "We have these kinds of problems when a liquor license is in a budding residential neighborhood."

Under the agreement, should Essex House receive another noise violation within the year and be convicted, they will have their liquor license suspended for 10 days.

According to the resolution, Essex House cannot have amplified music playing after 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and after 1 a.m. on the weekends.

It also states that any private event that fills more than 75 percent of the parking lot requires at least two parking attendants to monitor traffic in the lot.

This is the restaurant's first violation since it opened in West Orange more than 30 years ago, according to the Essex House attorney Robert C. Williams.

"It's not going to happen again, we shut it down," he said. "I believe this resolves the situation and we'll move forward."

Council members argued parts of the resolution were "over-broad" and too "harsh" as they excluded non profit groups from having events at the restaurant if they used the Internet for promotion.

Council president Patricia Spango was sympathetic to business owner James Markouris and said it was the first time the business had come before them for a violation. "(Markouris) has run a good clean business for 32 years," she said, adding that the resolution should not bar him from trying to turn a profit through private parties. "I understand, the economy is terrible, business is tough."

Though Kayser maintained the number of publicly promoted parties had increased in the past couple of years, he agreed to make amend the resolution and specify Essex House was only barred from hosting publicly promoted parties not private events by community organizations.

The resolution was unanimously approved.