The judge trying the civil case against a bar north of DeLand and its owners for upsetting neighbors has turned down a request for an injunction against the business.
Nearly a month after he presided over a hearing on a request for a court order, Volusia County Circuit Judge Michael Orfinger July 9 rebuffed the call to limit outdoor noise and activity allegedly originating from the City Limits Taproom & Grille’s property.
“The Court finds that the Plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence at the hearing to warrant entry of a temporary injunction,” Orfinger wrote in his 18-page ruling.
That hearing, convened on June 10 and 14, lasted some 6 1/2 hours, with testimony and arguments from attorneys for both the neighbors around the City Limits and for the bar’s owners.
“Plaintiffs’ Complaint in this case revolves around the operation of a bar and restaurant known as City Limits Taproom & Grille (“the Bar”), owned by Defendant CITY LIMITS DELAND, LLC (City Limits),” Orfinger wrote. “City Limits and the Bar are owned and managed by Defendant Paula Outzen (Outzen) and her husband, Defendant PETER FERRENTINO (“Ferrentino”). The Bar is located on U.S. Highway 17 in DeLeon Springs, near the city limits of DeLand. U.S. Highway 17 is a four-lane highway divided by a median. The individual Plaintiffs live (or have lived) in the immediate vicinity of the Bar. Plaintiff Neighbors Against Pollution Inc. (“NAP”) is allegedly comprised of members who own or have owned residential property, or live or have lived, in the vicinity of the Bar.
“In general,” Orfinger continued, “Plaintiffs allege that Defendants operate the Bar in a way that creates a nuisance, such as playing loud music late into the evening in an outside area that lacks proper permits, violating Volusia County noise ordinances, and creating what Plaintiffs describe as a general atmosphere of lawlessness.’ … The noise allegedly interferes with Plaintiffs’ sleep, thus threatening their health, safety, and welfare. … The Complaint further alleges that many of the individual Plaintiffs, and many members of NAP, practice conservative Judaism, and that the loud music and noise emanating from the Bar interfere with their observance of the Sabbath. … Plaintiffs contend, inter alia, that Defendants’ actions, and the actions of their patrons, constitute ‘intolerable and antisemitic behavior.’”
The hearing followed from a 119-point lawsuit filed in Circuit Court earlier this year by individuals who reside near the City Limits, located at 4425 North U.S. Highway 17 in DeLeon Springs. The plaintiffs say in their lengthy complaint that loud music and late-night noise from the bar and traffic infringes on their rights to quality of life and the quiet enjoyment of their property. In addition, the plaintiffs, who include Hasidic Jews, say the noise on Friday nights is such that it interferes with their observance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the holy time between sunset Friday and sunset Saturday set aside for abstinence from worldly activities and reserved for rest, worship, prayer and meditation.
The Hasidic Jews moved, as a community, from New York to the mostly rural DeLeon Springs a few years ago.
The overall suit against City Limits will probably not be tried until January 2025, according to Jody Lynn, co-counsel with Al Ford, an attorney for the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial of their suit. In addition, they are seeking compensatory damages and a “permanent injunction to cease the Defendants’ nuisance activities.”
Although Judge Orfinger turned down the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction based upon the June hearing, he did note “their right to file an amended motion for temporary injunctive relief, and to request another evidentiary hearing.”
Bottom line here is they the ‘plaintiffs’ are not trying to shut CL down. CL opened up AFTER that community moved in. They were there first. Follow the paper trail. Lastly, CL is not zoned for that kind of venue, and they are violating VC ordinance 50-478 which protects anyone from invasive nuisance behavior on their property. You have the right to do what you want on your property but as soon as you start negatively impacting others on their property, then you are violating their rights and breaking the law.
Wow….”.The TRAFFIC also INFRINGES on their rights to quality of life and the quiet enjoyment of their property”….Did they forget where they live? They live on a MAJOR HIGHWAY!!!! So………For their “HOLY TIME” let’s just shut down that part of Hwy 17 from Sunset Friday to Sunset Saturday because they chose to live there!!! NOT!!!!!! They say that CL is a nuisance……….I say that THEM JAYWALKING across 17 in the middle of the day in traffic is the biggest nuisance!! Every time I go through and see them trying to cross, I cringe because I am just waiting for one of them to cut across and get hit (God forbid)
City Limits does fantastic things for our community. They may have moved here after the whiners but they were located just down the road from them before that. They hold tons of fundraisers for all kinds of things. They are a family oriented Bar and Restaurant that tons of people enjoy with their kids. I’m about a mile away and I can hear the music some while outside on the weekends but nothing intrusive. Inside with AC on it can’t be heard at all. Why ruin a good community thing for many, for a select few that can go inside and solve their own problem. This lawsuit is ridiculous and City Limits has the support of almost the whole town. Tell your plaintiffs to get a life and mind their own.
Traffic infringes on my daily enjoyment of life every day starting at 5am and going well past midnight every night. Things might not be so bad if FS316.293 was ever enforced, but as my neighbor puts it, it’s “below” them. Everyone wants the big fish.
What gets me is these people move to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and because our life style does not fit theirs we as Americans have to change the way we live. I’m not very far from city and no way does it affect me and my family what so ever. If the music is that loud that it rattles windows do you believe people would be able to listen to it. Today people are so into everyone’s business instead of their own. Wonder why the world is so messed up…….