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A heated case between neighbors in Dillon

Kathryn Turner
Summit Daily News

What started as a noise complaint between a restaurant and some neighbors in Dillon has ballooned into a lawsuit, a web of liquor license questions for the town, harassment claims and a possible countersuit.

At issue is a complaint that music from a new outdoor deck at Adriano’s Bistro and Deli is too loud, bothering neighbors nearby and prompting a lawsuit. The question of the liquor license stemmed from a July 25 Summit Daily News article about the case that listed questions concerning the liquor license as one of the allegations in the suit. In fact, plaintiff and attorney Noah Klug dismissed that claim a few days earlier.

The liquor license is completely valid for the new 130-foot deck at Adriano’s Bistro and Deli in Dillon, and was issued by the state June 19, according to town manager Joe Wray.



But, Klug still says the town didn’t follow proper procedure. Klug alleges that during its approval of the liquor license, the Town of Dillon never convened as the local licensing authority – something that deprived residents the right to a hearing, he said.

Wray confirmed that Dillon Town Council never assembled as the authority in the Adriano’s expansion case.



“There may have been a technical glitch on this, but it is a done deal,” Wray said. “We rely on the state, they issue the actual liquor license.”

Adriano’s attorney Andrea Mahoney said that currently, they’re not planning on answering the complaint filed by Klug and seven other residents, which claims the music at the restaurant’s deck has become “an extreme annoyance and nuisance to the plaintiffs who are neighboring residents,” and interferes with the use of their properties, according to the suit. Instead, she plans to file a motion to dismiss it and seek an award of attorney’s fees and costs (based on the grounds that the claims are frivolous, groundless and vexatious, she said). She’s also researching a harassment claim against Klug – he was told by the Dillon police to stay away from the property, Mahoney said.

But Klug said there was no harassment – he was accused of such after visiting the restaurant’s owner to talk “neighbor to neighbor,” he said.

Dillon Police Chief Steve Neumeyer has measured the noise after receiving complaints; Wray said decibel readings are in the lower 50s and do not violate town code, which says they cannot exceed 70 in a commercial area and 60 in a residential between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

But Klug maintains that the town code doesn’t line up with the state’s, under which the noise would be a violation, he said.

Mahoney said some aren’t bothered by the music – one woman is getting a petition together that says signers like the restaurant, and don’t have a problem with the tunes. It includes the names of residents who live close to the restaurant, Mahoney said.

A few plaintiffs in the suit, including Klug, have been vocal about their feelings in letters to the Summit Daily and at Dillon Town Council meetings.

“We need new construction, we need new business, but sadly we have a problem with a lot of noise,” said plaintiff Steve Biagiotti, who spoke at a July 3 meeting. Biagiotti lives across the street from the deck, built this summer. “We’re in desperate straits because of it.”


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