Blue Hill select board to consider Blaze license renewal, public hearing

Board also completes purchase of GSA properties

The Blue Hill select board directed its code enforcement officer to issue a letter of violation to Blaze after determining it does not have a special amusement permit for live music. Photo by Tricia Thomas.

By Tricia Thomas

BLUE HILL—The Blue Hill select board is expected to set a date for a public hearing this month on whether a liquor license for the Blaze restaurant on Main Street will be renewed for another year. While annual liquor license renewals often are perfunctory, Blaze’s pending renewal could give the board some leverage in quelling complaints from neighbors about the volume of outdoor music performances there.

Blaze, which opened along the Mill Stream four years ago, unveiled a new outdoor stage in late June. At a select board meeting on July 7, High Street resident Rich Boulet said that music emanating from the stage was too loud. After determining that Blaze had not applied for a special amusement permit to offer the concerts, as required by town ordinance, the board directed code enforcement officer Martin Conant to issue a letter of violation. Conant’s letter was dated August 25, and gave the property owner, listed as Beto Guajardo of Atlanta, Georgia, until September 8 to apply for the permit. 

Resident Cheryl Boulet told the board on September 29 that, while the letter had been sent, the restaurant had not responded. Blaze’s outdoor concerts also were continuing, Boulet told the board. In August, Blaze publicized a total of 18 concerts in 31calendar days on its Facebook page, she said.

“What can be done about the violation of the amusement permit?” Boulet asked the board.

Select board members D. Scott Miller and Ellen Best said they were unsure how best to proceed. Conant, who was not present at the meeting, did not respond to an emailed request for an interview.

According to the special amusement ordinance, violation carries a monetary fine of $25 for the first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense, Miller said, reading from the ordinance. After town clerk Dana Goettler reported later that she had received an application from Blaze to renew its liquor license, Best said that the pending renewal could provide an opportunity to further vet the matter.

Restaurant owner Matt Haskell, when contacted by phone, said he had not received Conant’s notice, but has since learned of the violation and is working with the town to get the outstanding permit. 

“We thought [the special amusement permit] was already applied for and thought we had the license,” Haskell said. “It’s now applied for. I’ll also be going to the next couple of town meetings, and have been in touch with the select board to let them know that we’re willing to work with them on whatever we need to do to have live music.”

Haskell also said that he felt the concerts ended at a “very reasonable time,” by 9 or 9:30 p.m. in most cases. Only one performance, by the popular Maine-based, alt-country Mallett Brothers Band, ended later, he said.

Haskell, a Bangor native and owner-operator of the Blaze Restaurant Group, also operates restaurants in Bar Harbor and Camden, among other businesses. The Blue Hill restaurant has undergone extensive renovations since it opened, with the stage being the latest addition, Haskell said.

“We’ve developed into a sort of ‘meeting place’ in the heart of the village and part of that is doing live music to a reasonable time at night,” he added. “To my knowledge, it has been very well received by most people. We’ve had quite a few locals of all ages come in and enjoy it.”

Haskell said he was open to talking with residents about their concerns.

“I’m accessible and always available,” he said. “If anyone wants to speak with me, just as I would speak with them if I had an issue, they should do that.”

The select board said it will set a date for the hearing at its next regular meeting on October 6. 

In other business, the board announced that it had completed the purchase of two properties formerly owned by George Stevens Academy. The $1.8-million deal, approved by voters in August, includes a 13-acre parcel underneath and adjacent to the Blue Hill Consolidated School and a 17-acre property on Tenney Hill to be used for a new fire station and emergency services building.

Blue Hill fire chief John Chapman, who has been working with the board on the Tenney Hill purchase and turnover of the property, provided a rough $7,740 budget for maintaining the existing building on the site through the end of the year. The vacant building, formerly used by GSA as a dormitory, is being eyed for offices, meeting space and sleeping quarters for EMTs as well as firefighters as needed. Space also would be provided for visits from Hancock County sheriffs and other law enforcement. The town also plans to construct a five-bay station behind it to house fire trucks and ambulances, although a timeline for construction has not yet been determined.

“[The budget] consists of what I thought would be absolutely necessary to keep the building heated—without frozen pipes—and secure,” Chapman said.

Best thanked Chapman for his help with the purchase before giving him a key to the building.

“I want to say again how much we appreciate everything you did, and what a great job you did,” she told him.