Downtown venue to appeal city’s decision to shut down the music

FERNDALE, Wash. — A November 5th public hearing with the Ferndale Hearing Examiner will be the first opportunity the business, The Main Street Bar & Grill, located at 2005 Main Street, has had to appeal a notice of violation issued by the City. The notice states the business is a “nightclub” as defined by RCW 19.27.510 and unable to hold live music events without an adequate approved fire suppression system.

Last year in October, former business owner John Wirts learned the business was going to be categorized by the City as a nightclub. That meant he was required to either install a fire suppression sprinkler system or stop the music. Not having the estimated $80,000 to $100,000 needed to install a sprinkler system, he said he had no choice but to stop having bands perform every weekend as had been the case since Wirts bought the business in 2014 and for years prior to that.

Wirts sold the business to Michael Crow earlier this year. At the time, Wirts had an appeal scheduled with the Ferndale Hearing Examiner but that was canceled after he sold the business.

Crow said he resubmitted a business license application earlier this year that said limited live music would be performed and that was met with the same fate. Crow is now appealing the City’s decision to reject that application.

According to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) section 19.27.510, “nightclub” is a term used by the 2006 International Building Code and is applied when the total area of “concentrated use of unfixed chairs and standing space that is specifically designated and primarily used for dancing or viewing performers exceeds 350 square feet, excluding adjacent lobby areas. This does not include theatres, banquet halls or lodge halls.”