Bus Ban at Sound View Challenged in Court

Should buses be allowed on the roads leading to Old Lyme's town beach at Sound View? That's a question that Old Lyme's Board of Selectmen and Connecticut District Court in New Haven are both being asked to consider by Frank Maratta, owner of The Pavilion. 

In the first instance, The Pavilion, a popular watering hole down by Sound View beach, is asking for special permission from the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen to allow buses to drive down Swan Avenue to Sound View Beach and back up Hartford Avenue for an event on May 15.

The Board of Selectmen turned down a similar request last year because it was for three nonspecified days. But this event was billed as "UConn Senior Week," a one-night outing to the Pavilion for 300 students who would be traveling in six to 10 buses.

For safety reasons, the town of Old Lyme has instituted a ban on buses on town roads that lead from Route 156 directly to the town beach. During the summer, the roads and the beach area is crowded and congested with traffic and pedestrians. But May 15 is before the season starts in earnest and, on a Wednesday evening, there would likely be little traffic. 

All Aboard The Party Bus? 

Knowing that the request for a special permit to bring busloads of UConn seniors to The Pavilion was on the agenda, Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal decided to do a little homework before the last Board of Selectmen's meeting. She learned that this isn't a senior week event—it's happening after graduation—nor is it university sponsored.

The trip is being organized by a party bus company and advertised as "4 wild nights, 2 crazy days + buses to everything." The Pavilion is one of six venues included in the package, advertised as the Wednesday night stop from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. where the program promises "drink specials."   

"This is clearly a pub crawl," said Nosal. 

"The knee-jerk reaction would be we don't want to support this," said First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder. "It's encouraging the kind of crazy behavior we're trying to change."

Having said that, however, Reemsnyder noted that the board doesn't have the power to stop people from partying at Sound View establishments and the discussion turned to the reason for the bus ordinance in the first place. In all their debates before voting to pass the ban, board members said, the focus was on public safety. As Selectman Skip Sibley noted, the narrow roads and tight turns by Sound View beach aren't built for bus traffic.

Legal Ramifications

The board stopped short of making a decision last meeting, because more rests on this seemingly minor request than meets the eye. On December 20, Pavilion owners Frank Maratta, Janet Maratta, and Restaurant Consultants Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Old Lyme and the Board of Selectmen, claiming that the ordinance banning buses is a violation of the First Amendment.

Maratta filed the suit after a bus to The Pavilion was issued a $500 ticket for violating the bus ban. The bus company appealed the ticket, but Maratta decided to take it to federal court to appeal the ordinance itself. 

Sibley noted that whatever the board decided to do, it would likely become a factor in the lawsuit. Accordingly, the board decided to consult with the town attorney before it voted on whether or not to grant a special permit. The Board of Selectmen will take up the issue again at its next meeting on Monday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Old Lyme Town Hall.