Neighbors oppose plan to reopen former Sandbar site as bar; zoning board flags abandonment question
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Summary
Attorney for Purple Rock LLC sought a use variance to reopen 2104 Hampton Road as an eating-and-drinking establishment and pursue a liquor-license transfer; neighbors testified they fear noise, traffic and nuisance behavior and urged sidewalk and parking improvements. The board paused the matter for counsel review of nonconforming-use/abandonment questions.
Attorney Jim Bruno, representing Purple Rock LLC and the proposed tenant Bach Miller Enterprises, asked the Erie Zoning Hearing Board for a use variance to operate an eating-and-drinking establishment at 2104 Hampton Road, a property with decades of bar/restaurant history.
Bruno presented deeds, county assessment records and photographs to show the property's long history as a tavern and argued the building is configured for restaurant service (bar seating, kitchen, staging areas and multiple entryways). He said Purple Rock had purchased the property and intends to lease it to Bach Miller Enterprises, which holds a liquor license currently in safekeeping with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB). Bruno said the applicant expects seating for roughly 30 to 36 patrons, parking for about 30 vehicles on site, and operating hours that would run through midnight Sunday–Thursday and until 1 a.m. on weekends; he also said a PLCB place-to-place license transfer and building, health and fire approvals would be required.
Multiple neighbors spoke in opposition. Freda Tepper said the neighborhood lacks sidewalks and that the prior bar generated extremely loud music and nuisance behavior; she asked that any redevelopment require sidewalks and enforceable conditions to limit late-night noise. Jessica Carnes said the R-1 district exists to protect a quiet residential character, questioned the applicant's hardship claim and argued the prior bar's liquor license expiration and cessation of operations point toward abandonment of the nonconforming use. Wesley Barczynski recounted long-term nuisance problems at the site and asked for a fence and stronger neighborhood protections.
City solicitor counsel and board members questioned whether the site's nonconforming status had been abandoned under the ordinance's two-year rule and discussed whether ownership and operational interruptions reset or toll that period. The city solicitor noted city council approved an intermunicipal resolution supporting a PLCB transfer; he also said the resolution does not resolve zoning abandonment questions.
Board members requested that counsel further examine the abandonment and nonconforming-use timeline and the record of operations (including liquor-license status and any enforcement history) before the board decides on the use variance. The chair moved to a brief executive session to permit deliberation and legal review; the hearing record was left open for further action.
