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| Photo by Ryan Morrill Michael Battista believes the borough favors the town's other restaurants, including The Boathouse. |
The Ketch owner Michael Battista is suing Beach Haven borough for allegedly violating due process and infringing on his property rights after the town council denied his request for a place-to-place transfer of the restaurant’s liquor license to The Boathouse across the street. The civil suit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey last week.
According to the formal complaint issued by Battista’s attorney, Arnold C. Lakind, the council’s ruling breaches a nondiscrimination agreement between Battista and the borough that was instituted when Battista sued the town in 1997 for a pattern of bias against The Ketch and The Marlin, which he also owns and operates, in favor of other local establishments.
The complaint notes that council members canvassed competing business owners, who said they were uncomfortable with the expansion of The Ketch’s liquor license to The Boathouse. However, the complaint claims no such canvassing has occurred when considering other ABC applications.
According to the complaint, the council’s ruling also discriminated against The Ketch when the members simultaneously drafted a resolution to allow The Boathouse to unlawfully expand by selling and serving alcohol by way of up to 20 caterer’s permits using The Baldwin Grille’s plenary retail consumption license, even though the Ship Bottom facility, which does business as The Stateroom, does not cater the events at The Boathouse.
Other non-licensed premises in Beach Haven, such as the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club, which sells and serves liquor without a required club license, the complaint states, also do not adhere to the ABC Law and regulations as well as other federal, state and local laws.
Another example of favoritism outlined in the complaint includes the decision by the land use board, which Mayor Nancy Taggart Davis and Councilman Don Kakstis are members of, to approve an enlargement of The Ketch’s outside deck only if the place-to-place transfer were granted.
Since council adopted a denial resolution that had been written prior to voting at the Feb. 17 meeting, the members were required by law to give the applicant at least five days’ notice as well as an opportunity to be heard. The suit claims that Battista and his partners, however, were not made aware of the council’s intent to deny the application.
If the place-to-place transfer had been approved, it would have allowed The Ketch and The Boathouse to operate as one full-time entity. Developer William Burris had intended to purchase both locations this coming November. He does not plan to buy The Ketch unless the ruling is overturned, but he will be buying The Boathouse and turning it into the new Black Whale Bar & Fish House, which will be run by his partners, the local Nugent and Magaziner families. The Black Whale’s current building will be torn down.
Denying the expansion of The Ketch’s liquor license to the adjacent Boathouse restaurant, which is allowed by law, has caused inverse condemnation of Battista’s property, the complaint states. By suing the town, he is seeking approval for the expansion of the liquor license as well as compensatory and punitive damages, interest, costs of suit, attorney’s fees and any other relief the court finds just.
Last month, Battista appealed the council’s ruling by filing a formal request with the state Department of Law and Public Safety’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. A resolution has not yet been determined.
Neither Battista nor Lakind could be reached for comment by press time. Taggart Davis said she could not comment on the pending litigation.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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