A second group of Fat City bar and property owners has sued Jefferson Parish over its sweeping rezoning of the neighborhood, arguing that the ordinance approved last month singles out one group of parish business owners with unfair and onerous rules. The Times-Picayune archiveA second lawsuit has been filed by a group of Fat City business owners asking that...
A second group of Fat City bar and property owners has sued Jefferson Parish over its sweeping rezoning of the neighborhood, arguing that the ordinance approved last month singles out one group of parish business owners with unfair and onerous rules.
A second lawsuit has been filed by a group of Fat City business owners asking that a new ordinance setting out regulations such as early closing hours for bars be thrown out.Jason Jaume, owner of The Bar on Edenborn Avenue and a vocal critic of the Jefferson Parish Council, filed the federal lawsuit along with Michael Beecher, owner of The Camelot Lounge on Hessmer Avenue and Joseph Ancona, who owns a building on North Arnoult Road that includes two bars and vacant bar space. The owner of another bar on Hessmer, City Bar, filed a similar suit earlier.
The new lawsuit argues that imposing restrictions targeted specifically to Fat City, including controversial bar closing times of midnight most nights and 1 a.m. after business on Fridays and Saturdays, is arbitrary and violates the business owners' constitutional rights of due process and equal protection of the law. The early closing times go into force on March 31.
"The ordinance imposes a large number of burdensome regulations on businesses unlucky enough to be based in the area covered by the ordinance," reads the lawsuit, filed on Friday. "The ordinance will drive a number of small businesses out of business."
It says the parish's rules give a competitive advantage to bars and restaurants just outside the boundaries of Division Street, Severn Avenue, Veterans Memorial Boulevard and West Esplanade Avenue, where the Fat City ordinance applies.
"We wanted to negotiate," Jaume said Tuesday. "We only wanted our seat at the table. They rejected us. And now we have to fight it out in the court system."
The lawsuit asks the court to halt enforcement of the ordinance and award monetary damages to the business owners.
Ancona, who owns the now-empty storefront where the Forum Club lost its alcohol license after a series of underage drinking arrests earlier this year, said that episode and the zoning ordinance are blocking him from renting his property.
"They've changed rules and laws that now make my property useless," Ancona said. "I'm hardly getting by. It's breaking me."
But when the Forum Club lost its license, after Ancona ordered the problem bar to vacate his property, the business interruption caused the property to revert to required uses pre-dating the September ordinance that don't include bars. Ancona said he could try remodeling the building for a restaurant, but he cannot secure the financing.
Thomas Anzelmo, a lawyer representing Jefferson Parish in Fat City lawsuits, said Tuesday that he had yet to receive formal notice of the latest lawsuit and could not comment on the specifics.
He said the parish will thoughtfully study the allegations and defend itself.
In the midst of the Fat City debate before the Parish Council, an assistant parish attorney argued parish officials have the authority to use zoning ordinances to regulate alcohol outlets.
While closing times for bars emerged as the greatest source of contention surrounding the Fat City ordinance, the lengthy document also outlines a reinvention of the diminished nightlife district into a Metairie centerpiece of dining, shopping and condominium living.
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Mark Waller can be reached at mwaller@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7056.