By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
A downtown sports bar has the green light from city officials to open for business.
Salisbury City Council approved Tuesday a special-use permit that will allow the J&L Sports Bar to operate at 206 S. Main St.
The special-use permit lays out two conditions:
– It must have security personnel on the premises during business hours.
– A sign must be posted inside instructing patrons that they should park only on the street and not in the rear of the building next to First United Methodist Church.
The council has the authority to rescind the permit if violations occur.
Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy and Bill Burgin served on a committee that met earlier Tuesday with one of the prospective sports bar’s owners, Avery Allen, and representatives of Downtown Salisbury Inc., Historic Salisbury Foundation and First United Methodist Church.
Downtown Salisbury Inc. had expressed concerns at the council’s April 15 meeting that repair and maintenance issues should be addressed by the building’s landlord before the sports bar is allowed to move in.
Other issues raised were the proximity of the West Square residential district, the church’s child development center and the business hours, which will be 9 p.m.-2 a.m., according to one of the partners.
City code would not allow a bar within 500 feet of a K-12 school, but the proposed sports bar would not be affected by that rule.
As far as concerns about the condition and appearance of the building, Kennedy said, the sports bar tenant will be on the ground floor and not the upper floor where repairs need to be made.