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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997 Aug 20 - Cape Cod Times ArticleBoard of health supports By MIKE KARATH STAFF WRITER / SOUTH YARMOUTH — Red Jack- et Inn management is happy as a clam with the cookout variance it received yesterday, but the board of health's decision steamed one of the inn's neighbors. The board of health voted 2-0 with one abstention to give DeWitt Davenport, president of Davenport Cos, which owns Red Jacket, a variance to hold cookouts next to the inn for the rest of the summer. Edward Fettes and Joan Sullivan inn cookouts voted to approve the variance and Robert Tilley abstained. A swirl of legal action surrounds the 13,000-square-foot residential- ly zoned lot next to the inn con- cerning its use for commercial pur- poses. But the board of health said none of those issues influenced its decision. "They have complied with all the food -handling regulations and that's what we based our decision on," Fettes said. That didn't sit well with Red Jacket neighbor Ann Evans, who has battled the Daven- ports the entire summer over the noise and odor generated from the cookouts. She told board of health members that that the cookout smell and the noise the cookout guests generate have caused her to become ill. Evans, a Cape Cod Community College statistics teacher, said it has hampered her ability to correct her students' tests in a timely manner. At 7 tonight the licensing board will continue its show cause hear- ing to determine whether it should revoke the inn's outdoor entertain- ment license because of noise complaints of neighbors. 'armouth revokes inn's entertai .nment license Noise and music 3m the Red Jacket ust be kept inside. MIKE KARATH a IA'01?17 FF WRITER OUTH YARMOUTH — The gig is armouth selectmen, sitting as licensing board, last night )ked the outdoor entertainment nse it gave to the Red Jacket in May after listening to sum- -long noise complaints from ;hbors. ast night the board voted 4-1 to )ke the license, with Charles Hart casting the only no vote. It reversed a May 13 vote of 3-2 when the licensing board overrode its own code of regulations and grant- ed the Red Jacket what was appar- ently the town's first -ever outdoor entertainment license for a for -prof-_ it establishment. Board members Hart, Maureen Rischitelli and John Howard had voted for the license. The board last night also allowed DeWitt Davenport, president of Davenport Companies, which owns the Red Jacket, to withdraw with- out prejudice his application for an outdoor entertainment license for the rest of the Red Jacket property. Red Jacket lawyer Edward Veara refused to comment after the hear- ing when asked if the decision will be appealed in court. Audience member James Oteri of South Yarmouth reminded the board to be consistent, citing the board's decision minutes earlier on a noise complaint against the Mill Hill Club. The club agreed to install two more sets of doors to contain the noise generated by rock groups. "The issue with the Mill Hill was music escaping from inside of a building. And I heard tonight what the remedy is that this board pro- scribed — to keep the noise inside the building," Oteri said. "And I commend you for your empathy for the neighbors in providing a reme- dy. Now are the neighbors of the Red Jacket Inn entitled to anything less?" He added, "Where is y logic, ladies and gentlemen of board? Your logic is illogical. doesn't make sense, and it's fair. It's just not fair." Veara replied, "There was license granted for outdoor enl tainment, which means the eni tainment was going to be outside a building. Nobody voted on t] license thinking the noise, nim or the sound was going to be a tained within a building." "You're absolutely right, I Veara, in your statement," si licensing chairwoman Charlo Striebel. She said there is "no su thing" as an outdoor entertainmi license in the town's regulatioi "The license never should hL, been issued," she said.