We didn’t do anything maliciously. We thought we were running a good business. All this stuff is hitting us all at once. We’re trying our best to comply.”

Denny DeMarino, co-owner of Sunset Cove

There are seven liquor licenses in Island Park; Mike and Denny have three of them. I think they should have known that they needed the exterior license.”

John Vitkevich, Hummock Avenue

PORTSMOUTH — There are easier ways to spend a Monday night than debating the fate of a tiki bar.

But the Portsmouth Town Council spent more than 40 minutes doing just that this week, wrestling with liquor licenses, plumbing permits, shoreline regulations, noise complaints and whether a tiki bar that has been serving drinks for years can keep doing so legally.

The answer, for now, is yes — but only after Sunset Cove’s owners get the necessary permits, hold a meeting with neighbors and agree to stop serving outside at 9 p.m.

The controversy centers on a seasonal outdoor bar at Sunset Cove on Park Avenue overlooking Blue Bill Cove. According to owners Denny DeMarino and Michael MacFarlane, the tiki bar has been operating for roughly two and a half years.

The town’s records, however, show that the bar’s liquor license did not cover outdoor service.

DeMarino told the council Monday that the owners only recently discovered their restaurant liquor license did not extend to the tiki bar outside.

“This thing about the bar honestly took us by surprise,” DeMarino said. “We didn’t realize, with our liquor license, it doesn’t apply to about 10 feet away to a Tiki bar outside.”

Sunset Cove had been approved by the Rhode Island Department of Health, DeMarino said, and the owners believed that was enough to open the outdoor bar. They had also recently installed hot and cold running water.

“We thought we’d be good to go,” he said. “But we realize that we’re not.”

The owners asked the council to approve a temporary expansion of the liquor service area through Nov. 30. DeMarino said the business needed the outdoor bar open this week.

“It’s really a make or break for our business at Sunset Cove,” he said.

DeMarino promised the owners would get the necessary permits.

“I’m asking tonight for five more weeks of grace,” he said.

Bar gets pushback

The request, though, came with some baggage.

Council member Mary McDowell asked DeMarino whether the outdoor bar had been open over the weekend.

It had.

“We were just approved by the Department of Health last week, and we thought that’s what we needed to open,” DeMarino said.

With the outdoor bar closed, Sunset Cove has been serving drinks through a window, which DeMarino said has hurt business. “People who want to have a cocktail, a mudslide, they don’t want to go to a window,” he said. “The bar just creates a nice atmosphere.”

The business will continue serving alcohol through the window until the outdoor service is permitted, he said.

Some residents were less inclined to grant the owners five weeks of grace.

Ileene Chernoff of Point Road told the council the outdoor bar had been operating for about three years and that she had been dealing with what she described as “drunken karaoke sounds” and the smell of marijuana from Wednesday through Sunday.

She said the karaoke has since stopped, but questioned why the owners had not secured the necessary permits sooner.

Chernoff noted that she had spent 27 months getting approval from the state Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) to build a one-car garage because it was 173½ feet from the water’s edge. She said structures associated with Sunset Cove appear to be within 200 feet of the shoreline.

“That does make me very angry,” she said, asking that the application be rejected.

Heather Hartman, also of Point Road, said she can hear amplified music from Sunset Cove even though her backyard is about 600 feet away. “You can’t sit on your deck,” Hartman said.

She said she enjoys some of Sunset Cove’s special events, including fireworks and the Mac McAnally show, but argued that the regular outdoor entertainment is different.

“It’s not every day,” she said. “They’re doing it outside because of the bar.”

John Vitkevich of Hummock Avenue said he believes the owners should have known better.

“There are seven liquor licenses in Island Park; Mike and Denny have three of them,” Vitkevich said. “I think they should have known that they needed the exterior license.”

His recommendation was blunt. “Let them wait a year,” he said. “Let’s see how good of a neighbor they can be without the outside bar license.”

Craig Clark of Park Avenue, owner of Ocean State Air Solutions Inc. in Island Park, said as a small business owner, you have to follow the rules. 

“If I don’t pull a permit for something I’m doing, there’s an immediate fine,” said Clark, adding that while he likes Sunset Cove, “there’s got to be repercussions.”

He added that the noise from the establishment is indeed a problem. “We’re living next to the Windjammer at this point, and I’m just tired of it,” he said, referring to the popular music venue in Westerly.

Owner apologizes

DeMarino apologized to the neighbors and said the owners were trying to comply.

“We didn’t do anything maliciously,” he said. “We thought we were running a good business. All this stuff is hitting us all at once. We’re trying our best to comply.”

The owners have submitted electrical and plumbing permits, are working on a building permit and are seeking approval from CRMC.

Neal Hingorany of Narragansett Engineering, speaking to the council online, said CRMC had received the application and, according to Amy Silva, a senior environmental scientist with the agency, there would be no enforcement action.

McDowell was skeptical that the process would move as quickly as DeMarino hoped.

“Very quickly?” she said. “I don’t think so.”

The debate also touched on whether customers could buy drinks inside the restaurant and carry them outside. DeMarino said they could, although Police Chief Brian Peters said he would need to see the exact liquor license before offering a definitive opinion.

An OK with conditions

In the end, the council found a way to split the difference.

Vice President David Gleason moved to approve the seasonal expansion, but only after Sunset Cove obtains all necessary permits, including CRMC approval. The owners must also hold a community meeting with neighbors before the license is granted.

At the request of Councilwoman Sondra Blank, the council added another condition: Outdoor service must stop at 9 p.m.

Both the amendment and the main motion passed 5-1, with McDowell voting against.

Council President Keith Hamilton emphasized that the approval is temporary. The outdoor service area is authorized only through Nov. 30. If Sunset Cove wants to make it permanent, the owners would have to return to the council.

Until then, the tiki bar has a path forward.

But first, there are permits to obtain, neighbors to meet and a clock to watch. At 9 p.m., the tiki torch may still be burning.

The bar, however, better be closed.