AUBURN – Councilors renewed the Midnight Blues Club’s liquor license and amusement permits Monday, but stopped short of letting club owner Paul Morency expand onto city sidewalks.
Instead, councilors will take the next several months to come up with a policy for open-air businesses on city property.
“I’m comfortable with most of this agreement, but not with the sidewalk cafe,” said Councilor Bethel Shields. “I think we need more time to work with the staff to come up with something that’s fair for the entire city, not just this club.”
Morency had hoped to place 10 tables on the Main Street sidewalk outside of his club with seating for up to 40 customers. The club would serve meals at those tables from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
The outdoor cafe would make up for the loss of the Cellar Door, his lucrative downstairs nightclub.
Councilors were prepared earlier this month to cancel the liquor license for the entire operation – which included the downstairs disco, the upstairs Midnight Blues Club and the restaurant – because of a high number of police calls there.
Councilors finally agreed that Morency had to close the Cellar Door if he wanted to keep the rest of his operation. They directed him to work out an agreement with Auburn police.
Morency said he did, and that agreement included use of the city sidewalks.
“I’ve had to give up a lot, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to survive without the revenue from the Cellar Door,” he said. “This has been part of my negotiations with the Auburn police and it’s fair. Not being able to have this outdoor cafe would be a huge hardship.”
Morency said he would keep a 5-foot buffer around the seating area for pedestrians and would pay a $1 monthly fee to lease the space. He planned to operate the cafe three months out of the year – in June, July and August.
Councilors considered boosting the fee to $250 per month. Councilor Eric Samson argued that would be an arbitrary number that could hurt other businesses that might be able to use city sidewalks.
“I’m afraid of setting precedent without thinking about it,” Samson said.
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