Outdoor Music Still Silenced at Green Knoll Grille

The Green Knoll Grille has a renewed liquor license — but still isn’t allowed to have outdoor music.

The license came up for renewal at the June 17 meeting, but the council declined to move forward on changing the terms of the license to allow for outdoor music because the business has not yet responded to questions posed concerning the change.

In May, Pasquale Marago, attorney for the Green Knoll Grille, came before the council to request that live music be allowed on the outdoor patio of the restaurant. Currently, the restaurant is only allowed to have a stereo on the patio.

Marago had said the business is looking to build a removable board to stand behind the band as an impromptu shell, which will not be tall enough to be seen from the street. From there, he had said, the shell will be lined with sound absorbing blankets that are cut to the size of the plywood panels—this would block the noise.

The township administration sent a letter to the Green Knoll Grille in late May with questions about the material that would be used, the shell that would be created and more—but an answer has not been received.

For that reason, township Administrator James Naples said, there has been no resolution put together for changes to the license. He said the license was only up for renewal with its current conditions.

Marago attended the June 17 meeting, and questioned whether they could vote on the changes in addition to the renewal.

“It seemed to me that everyone was in agreement to give it a try,” he said of the previous discussion. “I received a letter from the council regarding concerns, and I wanted to address them.”

“Regarding these concerns, I think the majority agreed that so long as the noise, if any, was below the standards provided by law, this wouldn’t be a problem,” he added. “I hope we’re not moving backward, I hope we’re committed to allowing the Grille to move forward.”

But most council members said that without written answers to their questions, they did not want to move forward with any changes just yet. They said they would be willing to renew the license as it was.

“Our plan is to renew the license with the conditions in place,” said council president Christine Henderson Rose. “In the future, if the issues in the letter are resolved, we would then take action on the liquor license to amend the regulations.”

Councilman Matthew Moench was the lone vote believing that they should make the change right away.

“I don’t have a problem with approving the liquor license with the music outside, with the guidelines as set out at the last meeting,” he said. “If they don’t take the appropriate measures to protect the noise, they will get shut down immediately.”

Moench said the outside music is to be done over the summer months, and he would hate to see the change pushed off to later meetings, thereby forcing the Grille to lose the whole season.

“It does us no good if it takes several weeks to get back to them,” he said. “I would suggest that we grant the provisions as requested, and if it doesn’t work, pull them back in immediately.”

But council members said they are concerned that the restaurant has not yet responded to the letter that was sent with questions.

“They haven’t given reason to reject what they’re saying, but we did request information and have not received it,” said Councilman Allen Kurdyla. “We would be in a better position if it had been received before. There is no reason to doubt that once the information is received, we could act quickly.”

The council opted, by a 4-1 vote, to approve the liquor license without the changes to allow for outdoor music.

What do you think? Should they have moved forward with the change? Tell us in the comments!