Council decision will
limit club’s operation

The owner may have tried to convince them it was a restaurant, and township officials no doubt would have liked to believe it was, but in the end it was clear — the Breakfast Club is ... well, a club.

The owner of the ’80s-themed club has been determined to make the operation work one way or another since first introducing the idea last year. He initially told the township he planned to have a bar, then changed it to a restaurant, which is a permitted use on the Route 516 property. After being denied a liquor license on suspicions that the operation would really be a nightclub, the club found another way of getting a liquor license and opened up in March.

The Breakfast Club became a hit. Its music and atmosphere have attracted people from all around on Friday and Saturday nights.

But the matter never made it far from Town Hall, as residents took to the council with concerns about overflow parking on residential streets and properties, and noise from the club.

In recent months, the club has had to convince the council to renew its liquor license, an obvious uphill battle in which the club owner again sought to prove he was operating a restaurant and not a "dance hall."

After months of uncertainty, officials ultimately made the decision they had to make Monday night, which was to approve the license.

Unfortunately, however, the conditions they have placed on the club seem so limiting that, if enforced, the club may have a difficult time continuing a successful operation.

One has to wonder if a new approach is needed in dealing with local businesses — prohibiting valet parking, for example, just seems unnecessary.

It is to the credit of Old Bridge officials that they are listening to the concerns of the adjacent residents and are holding to township zoning restrictions, but it seems that there may have been a little more room for compromise in this case. And perhaps that will come if the club seeks relief from another township board or in court.

Nobody wants to see the property vacated once more, allowing the building to languish and become an eyesore. This would also mean a loss of tax revenue for the township. As a thriving club, and not the only one in the area by the way, the property will be kept vital.

We are pleased to see that officials approved the license to keep the club in operation, but we wonder whether there could have been more room for negotiation and compromise.