AVALON, N.J. — For Three and One singer and guitarist Gus Thompson, 25, the music died on Dune Drive shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday, July 17.
“We noticed the police out front,” the band’s front man Thompson said in a phone interview, recalling the night at Gully’s, a new bar and restaurant in Avalon with a patio for live music and other events. “Our set was ending very soon, so we didn’t think much of it. The owner said we’re being shut down. He said no more music.”
The band was scheduled and advertised to play until 10 p.m., and had finished the early set with Thompson’s original song “No Idea,” but Avalon’s restrictions on Gully’s and all other bars in town prohibit any outdoor music after 8 p.m.
Out in the crowd, Kate Nunan was incensed. At 8:36 p.m., she posted a picture of the band breaking down its setup in the Facebook Group Seven Mile Shenanigans, and wrote, “WTH is wrong with Avalon??? Shutting down a band at 8:30 because of a noise complaint??”
The outrage has only grown since, spilling over into a July 22 council meeting, with residents expressing concern that Avalon, long a place of late nights and live music, but now increasingly a place of private clubs and multimillion dollar houses, was in danger of losing its small businesses and essential character.
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Gully’s has now appealed the special conditions of Avalon’s liquor license to the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, saying the ban on outdoor music after 8 p.m. is “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.”
At the council meeting, locals like Merri Jones, who said she was a second generation graduate of Avalon Elementary, stuck up for Gully’s, which replaced the Black Cactus restaurant with a restaurant touting “old school beachy vibes.” (Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan praised its “clothesline of candied bacon.“)
“They’re a breath of fresh air,” she told the council, which had been cautioned by Nicole Curio, the municipal solicitor, not to respond to comments about Gully’s since the liquor license restrictions were now a legal action with the state ABC, a division of the Office of the Attorney General.
“It’s just a couple more hours to let them make their money,” she said. “We support it. A lot of locals do as well.”
But neighbors on the 100 block of 27th Street, which has Gully’s at one end and Wawa on the other, and regularly idling 18 wheelers making deliveries to both, pleaded their case about the noise from Gully’s, including the amplified music and games like its Monday Minnow Races announced over a loudspeaker.
Larry Hayes said he lived 450 feet from Gully’s, but the sound is causing an “unreasonable disruptive intrusion into our quiet enjoyment of our home.” The Avalon noise ordinance itself restricts any amplified sound audible more than 50 feet away, he noted.
“We want to be good neighbors,” said neighbor Matt Tumasz. “We love the idea that there’s a family restaurant. But when you have a five-piece band playing and blasting music, and speakers that are 15 feet in the air, it’s just a little bit out of control.”
Gully’s owner Beth Pearce did not respond to several messages from the Inquirer.
On Facebook, Pearce posted: “From the beginning, our goal has been simple: to create a place where neighbors, families, visitors, and friends can come together and make memories.
“We have tremendous respect for the role of our local officials,” she wrote. “We remain committed to working collaboratively, being good neighbors, and contributing positively to our community.”
At the council meeting, she noted that several of the council members had patronized Gully’s with their families (and one admitted to being a fan during the council meeting).
“The hope is we’re going to elevate all businesses,” she said. She pledged to try to “figure out what the appropriate sound level is.”
“I think we can find something where we can thrive together,” she said. “All we’re asking for is the same conditions as similar businesses within the district.”
In an email, Avalon administrator Scott Wahl noted that the special conditions that permit outdoor music only between noon and 8 p.m. were adopted in June by council and apply to all seven holders of liquor licenses in Avalon, including the Union League, which took over the Whitebrier last year.
Still, Wahl said, “I believe the Borough Council will attempt to revisit the issue to balance the interests of the business community and the residential community.
“I think it’s fair to say both sides want to figure this out collaboratively,” he said.
Three and One will be back at Gully’s this Friday. Thompson said the owners initially assured them the usual 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. gig would be fine, but have since asked them to play from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.