Tabu troubles in Saugus’ spotlight again

SAUGUS – Tabu Ultra Lounge and Night Club had barely faded from the Board of Selectman’s radar screen when it blipped again.The board met to discuss whether another show cause hearing should be called on the club, which is dogged by trouble in its parking lot. Selectman Stephen Horlick asked his colleagues to take a look at police reports regarding incidents that had taken place at the club since March. He said he is concerned that despite a new security plan, the club was still having problems.The board wrapped up a show cause hearing on the Route 1 nightclub March 10 when club officials agreed to take a three-day suspension, which they have since served, and instituted a new security program.The new security plan included staggering closing times in an effort to quell the violence that has been breaking out mostly around closing time and in the parking lots.Selectman Peter Rossetti said in an attempt to learn a little bit more about how to deal with troubled clubs in general, the board also met last week with a consultant, who is a specialist on licensing issues.Rossetti said the former Alcohol Beverage Control Commission worker warned the board that if an incident starts in the parking lot and stays in the parking lot, then the establishment can’t truly be held responsible.While Tabu has had a few incidents inside the club, the bulk of the club’s problems have been in the parking lot area. To address that, the new security plan also included additional parking lot lighting and closing its doors to new admissions by 1 a.m.Horlick said the board voted to forward the police reports that concerned them the most to Police Chief Domenic DiMella and let him decide if the board should have another show cause hearing or let the new security plan play out for another 30-60 days.”There seems to be a pattern, every 2-3 weeks there is a fight or something in the parking lot,” Horlick said. “There was a fight right before they implemented the new security plan on March 10 and two incidents a few weeks after.”Since the security plan was only set in motion in mid-March however, Horlick said it seemed fair to let DiMella decide if perhaps it needed more time to make a difference.”I’m happy with that for now,” he said. “We still had more incidents but we have (concerns) on file now and we can go back to this if we have to.”