A private after-hours club in Lancaster has been the source of frustration for some residents in the 300 block of North Queen Street for more than seven months.
Since it opened in October, law enforcement and zone enforcement records show numerous responses to the block about Legacy Social Lounge.
Police responded to numerous noise complaints and, in a few occasions, to reports of violence, including one shooting and a physical attack in which a woman was clubbed with a two-by-four so hard that the board broke in three pieces.
Many of the police calls were for noise complaints.
One of the club’s owners, Marcus Smith, is scheduled for a hearing Friday before District Judge Andrew LeFever on 17 noise violation citations. His fiancé, Charisse Perez, who is also an owner of the club, faces a hearing the same day on six noise violation citations. Smith pleaded guilty in March to one noise violation stemming from a November incident, but is appealing it to Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.
Violating the city’s noise ordinance is a summary offense punishable by a $150 to $1,000 fine for a first offense and increasing to $1,000 plus five to 90 days in jail for a fourth offense.
For Gary Ziffer and Karin Meacham, who own Art & Glassworks at 319 North Queen and live above their store, problems associated with the club have been frustrating.
Legacy is at 317 North Queen, right next to Ziffer’s and Meacham’s property, which includes a large courtyard extending to Ziffer’s office building at the rear of the property. They’ve owned the property 34 years.
Recently, they showed LNP | LancasterOnline footage from a security camera they installed showing noisy patrons outside late at night.
“You can see in front of our store there were about 50 people,” Meacham said as she narrated the footage. “That's how much they're screaming at each other, hollering at each other. That's loud. And the horns blowing … it's crazy.”
The footage was from about 3:30 a.m. last October.
LNP viewed more than a half-dozen videos from various surveillance cameras that backed up complaints about noise and other problems, including footage showing the woman getting hit over the head. Ziffer said many residents are reluctant to talk out of fear. Though the 300 block of North Queen is known for shops, Ziffer said more than 100 people live on the block.
LNP spoke with two other residents who did not want to give their names. They said they also hear excessive noise when the club lets out in the early morning hours and have seen fighting.
Smith said he feels Ziffer and Meacham are harassing him.
“The reason Gary and Karin is upset is — and I don't want to play the race card — but they’re Caucasian and they’ve been on the block a long time. They’re like the block captains,” said Smith, who is Black.
Club owner says club not loud
Smith said he’s tried to talk with police to have officers present when he closes late at night to ensure customers don’t get out of hand but hasn’t gotten the results he wants. He said his security staff has called the police a few times about problems outside, including people who wanted to come in whom security did not want inside.
“Anything outside my four walls, that’s not me. That’s up to the police,” he said. “I can’t control everyone who leaves my building.”
Smith said he’s just trying to run a business and is operating in an area zoned for commercial activity. He has a certificate of occupancy from the city allowing him to have up to 150 people inside, but said he keeps it to about 75 to 100 people.
“If I was doing anything illegal, don’t you think I'd be shut down by now?” Smith said.
Legacy is Smith's full-time job. Besides allowing private memberships, he also rents it out for birthday parties and other events.
Legacy offers hookahs, board games and has several large screen TVs, 10 round high-top tables that seat four people and a couple couches.
Ziffer and Meacham said their concern is noise and other problems, not Smith’s race.
For instance: Smith was shot in the hand earlier this year around the corner from the club, Ziffer said, adding he saw Smith post about it on social media.
Smith said that wasn’t associated with the club.
“I wasn't shot in front of my building. It was around the corner. I wasn’t shot on purpose. A group of people got into it and shots rang out,” Smith said.
A bullet fragment entered his hand, he said.
Smith said he knew nothing of a woman getting hit over the head. Video LNP watched showed it happening in front of a business near Legacy.
Ziffer, who is a certified public accountant, said he’s lost 40 nights’ sleep, 30 of which were during tax season.
“It’s just mind numbing,” he said.
The first time Ziffer met Smith was when the club first opened.
Ziffer said the music was “crushing,” waking him and Meacham, so they went next door to talk with Smith.
“His first thing to us was, ‘Well, there's going to be loud music. Why don't I just pay you to sleep somewhere else on the nights I’m open?’” Ziffer said.
Ziffer told Smith the offer was irrational.
“Why would we ever do that? We live here. This is our residence. I don't know if he didn't comprehend it,” Ziffer said.
Smith responded by saying he had every right to do what he wanted, Ziffer said.
Smith said that never happened, adding if he had that kind of money, he’d buy a building. He rents 317.
Smith said he’s put up soundproofing on windows facing Ziffer’s and Meacham’s property and has bought more soundproofing material to put up in the skylight, where the couple said sound escapes from, but hasn’t been able to install it yet.
He denied that the sound from inside the club was that loud.
A visit to the club
On Wednesday, during the day when only Smith and one other person were inside the building, Smith greeted a reporter at the door. A karaoke-style speaker about two feet tall on full-volume stood at the rear of the open-layout building. It could not be heard from outside.
Smith said he doesn’t use any other speakers.
Smith also showed several videos from events inside the building which did not generate loud noises. And he showed footage of noise outside Yorgo’s, on North Queen and Orange street, and fighting outside The Village Nightclub on North Christian Street as examples that he’s being unfairly targeted.
Smith said he filed a complaint with the city and the NAACP and plans to file one against the police department.
Legacy’s Instagram account has announcements for bring your own bottle events, charging $10 or $20 per bottle, and listing hours until 3 a.m. Events have included rappers and twerking contests.
However, Legacy doesn’t have a permit from the city to operate a BYOB. The city’s BYOB permit does not allow alcohol to be served after 2 a.m. State law also prohibits drinking at such clubs after 2 a.m.
City records indicate Smith sought a BYOB permit last fall, but withdrew it.
Smith said he hasn’t had a BYOB event since last fall.
He also sought, then withdrew, a variance from the city’s noise ordinance earlier this month. Smith said he withdrew it upon his attorney’s advice. It was his first time making an application and he wasn’t specific enough, he said.
“After court, I’m going to refile for it,” Smith said.
Ziffer said he feels police have done an exceptional job trying to keep things under control with the tools at their disposal.
“All they can do is issue a citation,” Ziffer said.
He can’t understand how the club has been permitted to continue and hopes Friday’s hearing leads to its closure or a commitment to comply with noise ordinances.
Smith, on one hand, didn’t seem that concerned about the hearing.
“Worse case scenario, even if I get found guilty of everything, it’s fines and costs,” he said.
But he also said the club is his source of income, and as a first-time business owner, he is learning as he goes and trying to make adjustments. He said he’s scaled back activities, which has cost him money.
When LNP contacted the city about complaints about Legacy, Neil Albert, a former city solicitor, responded.
Albert, who handled issues such as nuisance bars when he was a solicitor, said he was appointed special counsel and has been building a file since January.
“The city has taken an interest not just at a police level but a more serious level of what we can do besides filing noise complaints,” Albert said recently.
Asked what the city could do, Albert responded, “Frankly, there’s a limit to what I can say to the newspaper when there’s an investigation going on and potential litigation. But ... you have to wait for the facts to develop and that is sometimes very wearing on the people who are the victims of the ongoing situation."
