Saugus residents react to Orchid plan

SAUGUS – While Orchid owners agreed to voluntarily shut the nightclub down in favor of opening a new club with a new direction, residents simply want to make sure Studio 20 isn’t going to be playing the same old song and dance.Attorney Frank Russell, representing Jin Restaurant and Caterers, offered the Selectmen a proposal Tuesday that effectively put Orchid Nightclub, which is housed inside Jin, out of business.The restaurant had been called in for a show cause hearing based on recent violence connected to the club.Russell proposed the club shut down through Oct. 30 while the owners, town officials, the Police Department and residents hash out an agreement under which a new club – a disco to be called Studio 20 – will open.Enmore Road resident Rita Passanisi said she hopes the decision made by the Selectmen to accept the closure and hash out a new business plan with strong conditions goes as planned.”Because this just isn’t fair to the neighbors,” she said.Dave Janda said he’s lived in the neighborhood behind the Jin property for about 14 years and it’s been pretty quiet up until a year ago when Orchid opened its doors.After Orchid opened, Janda said late night noise became an issue, overflow parking has filled the streets and patrons have repeatedly tromped through yards, trampling flowers and leaving behind beer bottles, drug paraphernalia and trash.”We like where we live, it’s mostly very quiet,” he said. “You have to work with us.”Janda said he also didn’t like the fact that Jin owners seemed to create the nightclub without any warning.”We didn’t know it was coming,” he said. “Why was nothing done a year ago when we first called with complaints? The violence is the icing on the cake. For us, it’s the noise.”Janda said he would like soundproofing to be a condition of the new agreement, which prompted Selectman Stephen Castinetti to offer Janda a seat at the table during negotiations.”I would love to be a part of making the agreement so I could put our 2 cents in,” he said. “I’m not trying to put off anyone’s good time but I need my rest. I get up at 4 a.m. to I go to bed at 8 and I don’t need to get up again at 2.”Town Meeting member Janet Leuci said she believes rolling back the hours of operation is critical to making a new agreement for a new club work.Initially Anthony Cogliano, Orchid manager who will also manage Studio 20, said he would not accept a rollback on the hours of operation as a condition, but he may not have a choice. The board will likely hold a public hearing in mid-November aimed at the possible roll back of hours for any establishment that holds a license to serve alcohol.Leuci said she spoke with a Griswold Street couple with two young children who said they are kept awake four nights a week from the noise and vibrations emanating from Orchid. Leuci said with one of their daughter’s bedrooms on the second floor and eye level with Jin’s parking lot the family is also concerned about stray bullets.Passanisi turned her frustration on Cogliano and his colleagues.”Why didn’t you do anything for the neighbors?” she asked, adding she couldn’t understand how Cogliano didn’t realize that his business was impacting her neighborhood.Selectman Michael Kelleher said the needs and concerns of the neighborhood would most definitely be taken into consideration during the negotiations of the new contract.”If the neighbors are not happy, we won’t have a plan,” he said. “The goal is that we won’t have to worry about this ever again.”