A public hearing set for late May will determine whether an East Dundee banquet hall’s liquor license will be suspended or revoked due to multiple noise violations.
Between March 12, 2015 and Oct. 8, 2016, Club Royal B&V, located at 940 Dundee Ave., has been the subject of 56 requests for service calls due to noise complaints, according to village documents.
During the upcoming hearing, set for 6 p.m. Monday, May 22, members of the Local Liquor Control Commission will hear testimony regarding three specific noise complaints lodged against the facility last year.
Jaime Benitez, owner of Club Royal, said he has completed most of the work at the site in order to address the problem, including changing the sound system, adding insulation and drywall, and moving equipment off the floor.
But resident Steve Ledin, whose home is 100 yards away from the establishment, said the fixes haven’t been enough. He said he has made noise disturbance calls the last three Saturdays and multiple times on April 15.
“Club Royal has repeatedly proven themselves to be a public nuisance since they moved in,” he said at Monday’s meeting. “This is a fact. And it’s been allowed to continue. This board is in effect condoning this. It’s time for them to find a new venue.”
East Dundee Police Chief Terry Mee confirmed three complaints were called in April 15 and Benitez was twice given a verbal warning to turn down the bass.
“And he did so after which the officer could hear no bass tones,” he said.
After the third complaint an officer sat outside the nearby GAT Guns and couldn’t hear the music or detect bass tones, Mee said.
Liquor Control Commission member Kirstin Wood, also an East Dundee trustee, expressed her frustration with the situation.
“We’ve been going through this for quite some time,” she said. “On April 15, less than 10 days, ago you were asked twice to turn the music down, which tells me there’s still an issue here. We shouldn’t be getting complaints that result in asking him to turn the music down.”
Benitez asked the commission members to let him host the events he already has booked for the year, which includes several this weekend and a handful in May.
His lease is up next spring and Benitez said he will not be purchasing the facility.
“This building is a problem, and I don’t want a problem,” he said. “I’ve been sick for at least six months now because of stress. Every time I’ve got an event I look in the windows to try to find when the cops are going to come. I don’t need this no more. Let me finish this year. Let me finish the contracts I’ve got. They already spent money to play their weddings, their baptisms. Let me finish whatever I have, be done with it and look for another venue.
Benitez said he would like to open another banquet facility in East Dundee.
“I think I can do good business but I can’t do it this way,” he said. “It’s too much for me. Too much stress. I’d like to stay in East Dundee but I’d like to find another building where I don’t have these problems.”
The noise complaints have been ongoing for several years, officials said, dating back to when the venue was under different ownership and called Club Premier Banquets. The building was also previously a car dealership. Benitez was made aware prior to leasing and operating the banquet venue of those noise issues and their impact on the neighbors, Mee said.
The village has four opportunities this month to gauge the effectiveness of the recent improvements due to scheduled events, Mee said, including a concert this Friday involving several bands, a communion and a wedding Saturday, and a retirement event Sunday.
“With the event on Friday you should have significant opportunity to determine how well these improvements are functioning,” he said.
Any new citations, however, would be subject to another hearing, said Village Attorney Jim Binninger.
Next month’s hearing will include testimony from police officials as well as residents.
Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
