Officials with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control have removed Belmont restaurant Bel Rio’s liquor li-cense, with the building’s landlord saying it was because the building was not being used for business.
“Basically if you’re not using your license, they take it,” Jeff Easter said.
An undated sign has been posted on the front door of the Monticello Road restaurant saying that it will be closed for two weeks for vacation and kitchen renovations. ABC spokeswoman Becky Gettings said an agent discovered that Bel Rio was inac-tive, so the agent spoke with Easter and requested to take the license. At that point, she said, Easter voluntarily surrendered it.
“If there is inactivity at an establishment, the license should be surrendered,” Gettings said, though she added that she did not know if an exact time period for inactivity is defined.
Bel Rio neighbor Janet Hatcher said she recalls the restaurant being open July 9, a little more than a week ago.
Gettings was uncertain what brought Bel Rio to the local ABC agent’s attention, but she noted that agents regularly keep up with business activity in their areas.
The surrendering of a liquor license is not the same as having it revoked. ABC spokesman Philip Bogenberger said the taking of a license does not indicate that the business may have closed for good.
“They have a clean history,” Gettings said of Bel Rio. “They haven’t had any violations with ABC.”
Restaurant owner Jim Baldi has a right to ask for the license back. Bogenberger said that it could be returned as long as it is valid and the licensee has a legal right to occupy the building, such as through a lease.
In reference to Baldi, however, Easter said, “Nobody knows where he is.”
Bel Rio has been the crux of Charlottesville’s noise debate, and has been one of the main reasons for the City Council passing a stricter noise ordinance for restaurants in commercial areas that are surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Noise com-plaints from Belmont residents about Bel Rio have been ongoing.
Easter and Baldi had a conversation last week in which the landlord told Baldi that only jazz and similar music would be al-lowed at Bel Rio in the evenings, as opposed to louder performances such as DJs that have been drawing even more ire from nearby residents.
Easter said that Baldi indicated it would be difficult for him to make a living under that rule.
The building is being shown to prospective tenants, but Easter said Baldi has not given any notice that he wants to close the business permanently and end his lease, which goes until 2013.
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