Sarcoa threatens legal action to play music on patio

The owners of Sarcoa, a waterfront bar and restaurant, say they're willing to go to court over the ability to play live music on their patio.

Sam Destro and Marco Faiazza are talking options with their lawyers after the city cracked down on their efforts to have music outdoors, Destro said on Wednesday.

"We're not going to take the full brunt of the bureaucratic conflict," he said. "We deserve better, the citizens of Hamilton deserve better and customers deserve better."

"My legal advisors will decide what course of action to take."

I can almost sing to the tunes they're playing.- Rick Craven, Burlington councillor

Noise at the waterfront restaurant has been an ongoing battle since at least last year, when municipal law enforcement officers started visiting.

Sarcoa's 2012 lease agreement with the Hamilton Waterfront Trust acknowledges the restaurant will have "live entertainment (which includes DJ services) both inside the complex and on the exterior patio."

But in the next sentence, it says Sarcoa must adhere to municipal bylaws. And Hamilton's noise bylaw prohibits amplified music on patios without a special permit.

Destro said he negotiated with the waterfront trust "in good faith" and assumed, with the lease language, that live music was permitted. Having live music and DJs on the patio is key to the success of the "Miami Beach-style" business, he said.

But last year, Burlington residents across the bay, as well as a handful of people near Sarcoa, started complaining. Sarcoa applied to the committee of adjustment for a zoning variance, which it later withdrew. A city bylaw officer also issued a noise violation, although the officer later died and the city had insufficient evidence to prosecute.

Jason Farr, councillor for Ward 2, said "six to 10" residents have complained to his office about the noise. More complaints have come from bayside Burlington residents, specifically through Rick Craven, their local councillor.

If this was July 25, two days after we opened, I would understand that more.- Sam Destro, Sarcoa owner

The music is "very, very loud," said Craven, who estimates it was a problem six times last summer and three times this year. He's urged Hamilton officials to enforce their own bylaw.

Sound travels across the harbour, he said, and "I can almost sing to the tunes they're playing."

"We understand a little bit of entertainment noise, but it can't be as loud as it is," he said.

'Our efforts have been ignored'

The city laid two more charges against Sarcoa about a month ago, said Bill Young, Hamilton's director of municipal law enforcement. Officers visit Sarcoa every weekend as one of their "proactive enforcement" sites, he said. In the last two weeks, there have been no problems.

To Destro, the problem isn't solved. The goal of Sarcoa, he said, is to be "the catalyst for future waterfront redevelopment and Hamilton's transformation," and that includes music on the patio. That was in media reports when Sarcoa opened in 2012, he said, so everyone knew that.

Destro said he's tried to work this out with the city.

"Our efforts have been ignored, leaving us with no choice but to apply to the courts for a determination of our legal rights and appropriate remedies."

"If this was July 25, two days after we opened, I would understand that more," he said.

Now, "we have an agreement and we want them to honour that agreement."