VILLAS – Lower Township Council voted unanimously June 22 to renew the Sunset Beach Sportsman’s Club’s liquor license, as over 60 club supporters, most of whom wore “I support” the club stickers, waited with bated breath for the decision.
Cheers, claps, and fist pumps followed the council’s vote, which comes amid a multi-month saga wherein the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been seeking to evict the club from its current building, which is located on state property.
Nobody from the DEP was present to make their case before the council. Christopher Gillin-Schwartz, who represents the club in its legal battle against the state, gave a brief statement.
He said that the state has no legal basis to challenge the club’s liquor license and that the state is only objecting in order to “take time and resources” away from the club.
“I looked for and couldn’t find any legal arguments in their letter, and I was hoping a member of the state would be present to give a legal reason for their challenge,” Gillin-Schwartz said.
He bemoaned the state’s “deafening silence” at the meeting.
The DEP made a similar challenge to the club’s liquor license at a June 2021 council meeting; it was also absent from that meeting and made no oral arguments.
Ed Claven, the Sportsman’s Club’s president, spoke before the council. He said that the club has maintained all the legal requirements for its liquor license and has not caused an issue in the lifetime of the club.
“We have been in existence for 64-plus years at the one spot. We’ve had a liquor license since January 1956. We haven’t had one problem, not one problem. We pay our bills, we pay our taxes,” he said.
Both Claven and Gillin-Schartz said all the state’s challenges to the club’s liquor license are erroneous.
David Stefankiewicz, Lower Township’s solicitor, sided with members of the club. He told the packed room that the club has maintained all the requirements for the renewal of its license. He called the state’s objection a “smokescreen” for a larger issue.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with what the council is called to do with the liquor license,” he said, adding “I read the DEP’s letter (to council), Mr. Belasco read it and read it and reread it. I understand this is a landlord-tenant dispute, but that is beyond the purview of this council here.”
Terri Hood, a supporter of the club, said that the group has always been a quiet place to “share friendships.”
Club organizers have gathered over 1,400 signatures in support of the club via a change.org petition. The petition was spurred by an eviction notice from the DEP received in mid-February that ordered the club to vacate by May 1, 2022. As of late June, the club is operating business as usual and remains on the property.
Emaleigh Kaithern, membership committee chairperson for the club, said that the next actionable step in the club’s struggle against the state will take place in Landlord-Tenant Court.
To contact Collin Hall, email chall@cmcherald.com.
