The city’s Alcohol License Review Committee considered a request from Madhatter’s Bar to increase the bar capacity from 200 to 320 occupants and decided to prolong a house party ordinance, during a meeting Wednesday.
In previous years, Madhatter’s Bar was located on the University Square Mall and shut down due redevelopment of the mall. The bar’s previous location held a maximum capacity of 200 occupants which has carried over to the new location despite its significantly larger size, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
“It absolutely is the case that Madhatter’s has a new location and under the building fire codes, capacity could be substantially more,” Verveer said. “Because of the [alcohol license density ordinance] in effect at the time, this capacity was limited to what he had at a smaller space on University Square Mall.”
The alcohol license density ordinance that created this limitation on Madhatter’s capacity expired July 1. Madhatter’s Bar owner Ted Gervasi received email approval from the city’s building inspector to allow a maximum of 294 occupants on the second floor and 140 on the first floor.
Despite this fact, the alcohol committee hesitated to approve the new capacity due to previous issues with allowing more patrons access than the current limit of 200.
“We have diligently tried to address these issues and we’ve inspected our capacity over the past month,” Madhatter’s manager Joe Gambucci said. “We encourage [police] to come in at any time. We really want to be able to work together and achieve that.”
Gervasi also brought up the possibility of serving food at the bar since he has the rights through his lease to the old Silver Mine Sub shop located off of North Broom Street. Gervasi does not want to purchase the sub shop without approval for an increased capacity because it would cost $600,000 in construction expenses.
“It would not be feasible without more capacity,” Gervasi said.
The committee agreed to review Gervasi’s proposal which contains a comprehensive floor plan including a kitchen at the next meeting in October.
ALRC members also agreed to remove a sunset date for the nuisance house party ordinance which permits police to shut down a house party if it violates a number of laws including serving alcohol to minors, disturbing the peace and overcrowding.
Tenants who host nuisance parties are required to meet with the Madison Police Department and property owners to discuss punishments and future prevention.
