In a battle that focuses on fire safety, the town's Building and Fire departments are refusing to sign off on an inspection certificate for the Randolph Country Club because it recently switched its status from private club to restaurant to bypass the requirement to install an automatic sprinkler system.
A week after a statewide sprinkler requirement went into effect for bars and other entertainment venues on Nov. 15, an attorney for the Randolph Country Club notified selectmen that club manager Michael Capone, the holder of the bar's liquor license, wanted to change the 60-year-old establishment's private club status. As a restaurant, Philip Murray noted, it would not be required to install a sprinkler system.
With a 3-to-2 vote, the selectmen approved the liquor license change in mid-December, even in the face of written protests from both Building Commissioner Mary McNeil and Captain James Hurley, the Fire Department's fire prevention officer.
McNeil and Hurley say the business doesn't meet state requirements for restaurants or bars, and that the sprinkler system and other fire-safety updates are necessary. They are refusing to sign off on the annual inspection certificate that the country club needs to operate.
"The sprinkler law was written for places like this," Hurley said. "You're putting 300 to 400 people into a dangerous building. This is another Station nightclub."
The 2003 Station nightclub fire that killed 100 people prompted Massachusetts lawmakers to require automatic sprinkler systems for entertainment venues that have capacities of 100 or more. The state law was enacted in 2004, but business owners were given until Nov. 15, 2007, to install the required sprinklers.
The Randolph standoff points up problems businesses statewide are encountering as officials more closely scrutinize their facilities in the face of the new regulations.
Hurley and McNeil's refusal to sign off on the Randolph Country Club inspection could eventually shut the business down, since a valid inspection certificate is part of the state's requirement for any liquor license change. In Hurley's view, the club has been operating without a valid license since the first of the year and selectmen should shut it down.
But selectmen are standing behind their vote.
Selectwoman Maureen Kenney said she backed the country club's request because the business is well-established and had few problems. "They expressed the need to change their business model, and it made sense to us," Kenney said.
The sprinkler law, she said, is "hitting businesses hard" because of the cost. "It was clear to everyone during the hearing that sprinklers had been a consideration," Kenney said of the country club's requested change in status. "The expense of putting in sprinklers had been factored in."
Calls to Murray, the club's attorney, were not returned. Owner Jack Gateman did not respond to a message from the Globe left at the country club.
An approved inspection is also needed for the club to get the liquor license change endorsed by the state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. The refusals by Hurley and McNeilto sign off on it will block that approval - meaning that the country club's status remains that of a private club in the eyes of the ABCC, at least for now.
Ralph Sacramone, executive director of the ABCC, declined to comment on the Randolph Country Club's situation because the selectmen have not forwarded the requested license change. Sacramone did confirm that such a change requires an accompanying inspection certificate signed by both the Building and Fire departments to get state approval.
Hurley said that businesses had plenty of warning concerning the sprinkler requirement, and that the old, wood-frame country club building should have had an automatic sprinkler system all along. "You can't debate this building," Hurley said. "It was built in 1946 and it's a fire hazard."
The country club Club is a short distance off Route 139. The long, narrow building, covered with peeling blue paint, has operated as a club since it opened in the 1940s, with members purchasing monthly or yearly memberships for nominal fees. It has an outdoor swimming pool but no golf course. For decades, it was a favorite gathering place for the area's gay population.
McNeil, the building commissioner, said the club's occupancy capacity, when its three rooms are totaled, is 321. The building area also exceeds 7,500 square feet. The town has a regulation that requires all buildings of more than 7,500 square feet to have sprinklers. The club had been grandfathered from the requirement, but McNeil said grandfathering ceased when the use changed.
McNeil last week issued a building permit to install sprinklers in the club after belatedly receiving a set of plans, but said that lack of sprinklers is just one of the building's several shortcomings. She said it lacks a proper fire-alarm system, and the fire extinguishers are out of date.
Hurley said he believes the club should have been shut down at the first of the year, but he contends the selectmen should do it.
"The date's gone by," Hurley said. "All this stuff should have been done a few months ago. In my view, the license should be pulled and they should do the renovations and then reopen. If something goes wrong in that building tonight, it's not on me or the building department."
Christine Wallgren can be reached at CLWallgren@aol.com.
