Board Wants Answers On Sprinkler Delay

BOURNE- The owner of the Parrot Bar and Grille building on Route 28A in Cataumet is expected to come before selectmen on Tuesday to explain why the structure is not as yet compliant with the state’s fire sprinkler law that passed in the aftermath of the devastating 2003 fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island.
Selectmen have been voting on annual liquor license renewals and will need to take action on the establishment’s right to remain open. The Parrot does not own the land and building from which it operates.
Cape Boulevard on MacArthur Boulevard and the Port O’Call on Main Street, Buzzards Bay, were both ordered by the town to closed on New Year’s Eve in 2007 until they could become compliant with the law.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Aptucxet Post 5988 avoided closure by walling off a portion of its serving area, so that they could accommodate fewer than 100 people, the threshold occupancy number at which state law mandated sprinklers.
Beginning in the fall of 2007, the Parrot, along with Slaphappy’s and the Buzzards Bay Eagles, however, had filed plans with the town and received an extension to carry them out.
That extension expired at the end of last week.
Slaphappy’s completed its sprinklering work before the deadline. According to town records, sprinklers have already been installed in the Eagles’ Cohasset Avenue hall. A water main has been laid to the building and is expected to be connected this week.
Interim Fire Chief David M. Kingsbury said that the Parrot has been in contact with the fire department throughout the past year. It is in a situation similar to that of the Eagles, but the timing is not as fortuitous. Chief Kingsbury said that the Parrot is awaiting a permit from the state to run a water main into its property.
Because the Parrot is located on a state highway, the water district needed state permission to dig.
The fire chief said the establishment has a contractor ready to dig the trench for the line as soon as the permits are in place.
While it may take several days to resolve the hold-up on the water main, the fire department is capable of supplying water directly to the establishment’s sprinkler system, since it is already in place.
In the meantime, selectmen will need to act on the Parrot’s license.
The Enterprise was unable to contact landowner David Ariagno prior to press time.