Prompted by the success of a temporary outdoor music license granted during the Warren Walkabout in the fall, Chomp Kitchen and Drinks appeared before the Warren Town Council on Tuesday night to request a year-round outdoor entertainment license.

What followed in the next 37 minutes was indicative of how sensitive the downtown historic sector of Warren can be when it comes to issues of unsolicited sound.

“You must be aware that there is not unanimous support for this,” said Councilwoman Keri Cronin.

“It doesn’t shock me, no,” replied Sam Glynn, owner of Chomp.

“I personally am concerned about the idea of outdoor entertainment in that space given the proximity to so many other businesses and homes,” Cronin continued. “If this moves forward, it would have to be done in a very controlled and monitored way so it didn’t spill out and impact other residents and other businesses negatively.”

Other members of the Council were unanimous in agreement that providing such a license would only be done so if the music did not have an inordinate impact on neighboring residents and businesses.

Russell Goyette, owner of Trafford, which sits directly across from Chomp and shares a parking lot amidst the well-trafficked Town Wharf area of Water Street, made his opposition to the idea of outdoor entertainment clear.

“He [Glynn] never came to me with that [idea], never discussed with me what he’s going to do, how he’s going to do it, or how it might affect my business,” Goyette said. “I don’t believe this music is going to help my business at all. It’s going to hurt it. There’s no way around it. It’s going to bring a lot more traffic and a lot more people within the place because there’s now music. Now it’s more drinking and music versus food. It’s going to be a problem.”

Glynn clarified in a call on Friday that the license he was seeking only allows for a maximum of a four-person band to play amplified music at a decibel level within local town law. He said his vision was to only do so once a week, likely from 2-5 p.m. on Sundays, when the weather permits.

“It’s never meant to be a rock show,” he said. “We’re still a restaurant that needs tables to make money. We want to try and keep it so that it’s not intrusive or takes up much space. It’s supposed to be background music.”

Still, members of the Town Council made it clear that they were operating under lessons learned from this most recent summer, when a litany of complaints were levied against the Summer Concert Series put on by the Parks and Recreation Department at Burr’s Hill Park.

“Keri [Cronin] and I will agree and disagree on different subject matters but I have to agree with her on this one about the music and the noise, because I can already foresee neighbors blowing my phone up. Because they blew our phones up for six concerts or eight concerts at Burr’s Hill,” said Council Vice President Steve Calenda. “You might not be that loud but you’re that much closer to the people in the downtown. They’re in ground zero…I have no problem with people calling and blowing my phone up, but I have to be able to give them the answer to why we allowed this.”

It was suggested that the council provide Chomp with a temporary, probationary license to try out the outdoor music as the weather gets nicer. That license would begin now and expire on June 11, and the matter would be discussed that evening at the June meeting of the Town Council.

“I know if we get complaints, whether you agree with them or not…If every one of your neighbors start saying it’s just too much, that’s a representative government,” said Councilman Joe DePasquale.

Glynn said that he only brought forward the idea because it was something his customers had inquired about, and that he wasn’t trying to cause a negative impact on anybody.

“I’m just as much a neighbor and citizen of the community as you all are,” he said. “So I have just as much of a vested interest in making sure that my neighbors are happy living where they are and the businesses around me are succeeding. I’m not trying to step on toes or be a bull in a China shop at all.”

Addressing obvious tension in the room between Glynn and Goyette, Councilwoman Cronin suggested Glynn try to mend those fences so bad blood didn’t taint the experiment.

“I’m not looking for a ‘kumbaya’ moment here, but there is definitely some tension here between you and your neighbor and that needs to be worked out because this is just going to blow up because of that tension,” she said. “We may not get a realistic response because there’s too much anger going into it.”