MARGATE – The plight of residents living near the Sunrise Tequila Bar was back before the Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday, April 16 when residents demanded the city do something to quiet their neighborhood.
Although the property owners, Dana and Brian Hiltner, spent nearly $200,000 to install windows to close-in the second-floor open air cocktail lounge, residents said the windows won’t do much to muffle the sound of music and voices keeping them up all night if they are open during the hot summer months. The recently rebuilt property has a louvered roof system and no air conditioning.
“I don’t care if they spend a million dollars on windows, the sound’s coming from the ceiling. What are you guys going to do about it,” Jeff Hoffner said.
The room fell silent for a time.
Residents have been complaining year-round about noise coming from the bar since it opened last year. They have recorded videos of the late-night partying and music blasting through the neighborhood. One woman said her friends in Longport can hear the noise from blocks away.
Hoffner said he hears the constant pounding of music coming from the second floor deck and asked the commissioners to come up with a solution that some officials said might not be possible.
“There’s only so much we can do. The reality is that it is a commercial zone and you live right across the street from a bar and there’s going to be noise there, especially in summer,” Solicitor John Scott Abbott said.
He drew groans from the audience when he said, “Not to be a wise guy, but maybe the solution is not to live near a bar.”
Abbott agreed, however, that the city will have to do something about the louvered roof.
Janine DePetoro, who lives two doors away from the bar, asked which city department enforces Planning Board resolutions granting the variances needed to build the property.
Mayor Michael Collins said the Zoning Office is responsible for compliance for issues outlined in the Planning Board’s Decision and Resolution document. However, some of the residents’ concerns may not have been included in the D&R.
“Our solicitor has to determine what of those alleged violations are zoning violations or are they things people thought they were going to do,” Collins said.
“We now have to be the enforcers,” she said. “We have to call and complain to the police, and we are not getting anywhere with that.”
DePetoro said that during her 50 years living on the street, she never had any complaints when the property was a liquor store and pizza parlor with two apartments on top.
In prior meetings, Abbott suggested the residents and their attorney meet with the property owners to come to an agreement on their concerns, but contact was never made and the meeting never took place.
“They don’t want to meet with us, and they don’t want to be better neighbors,” she said.
Resident Liz O’Brien, who attended the planning board meetings when variances were granted, questioned the process for granting approvals without showing the public final sealed architectural plans.
“The plans were not complete, sealed and signed and not a list of conditions the public could see, and yet the board voted to approve it,” she said.
Collins said board members often hear concerns and make modifications based on those concerns. The board memorializes their decisions at a subsequent meeting, and building permits are not granted until the plans are updated.
Margate City officials halted construction at Sunrise Tequila Bar, 9700 Ventnor Ave., which will seek variances at a special Planning Board meeting, May 15.Completion of the redevelopment project has a storied history over several years before it opened. Originally, the owners planned to remodel the first floor and add an open air deck on the second floor. However, when the first floor renovations revealed structural issues, the walls were demolished and the projected halted. The owners were required to go back to the planning board for a second hearing on the revised improvements.
“We all know it’s not air conditioned in there, and besides the fact it has an open roof, all the windows are going to be open when there are people there in summer because its not air conditioned and you cant keep the windows closed or it will be boiling hot,” she said.
They need air conditioning, a solid surface roof, or they need to shut the music off at 10 p.m. like every other bar in the city, she said.
“That’s what they said they were going to do,” she said.
The D&R clearly states:
“The Applicant shall not utilize any outdoor speakers at the property later than 10:00 p.m. and any live music such as bands or singers shall shut down or stop performing no later than 10:00 p.m.”
But that condition is not being adhered to, they said.
Commissioner Maury Blumberg, who as chairman of the Finance Committee overseeing the Zoning Office, said it is not fair that the residents cannot get their issues resolved.
A letter from residents’ attorney outlines all of their concerns and that letter needs to be addressed, Blumberg said.
Abbott said some of their concerns were addressed with the installation of the windows, which promised to reduce the noise, he said.
“We need to do something. We can’t keep going on and on and on,” Blumberg said, receiving applause from the audience.
He asked Collins and Commissioner Cathy Horn if they have spoken with the owners about the residents’ concerns.
“I know they are aware, but I have not had any conversations with them,” Collins said.
“To me it’s an easy fix,” Blumberg said. “Turn off the music at 10 o'clock.”
Clarification is needed on the city’s ordinance defining outdoor space versus indoor space, Police Chief Matthew Hankinson said, noting that police have been responding to noise complaints, but the music is turned back up after police leave the scene.
“I asked for that clarification and if we can define it, it will move us on from this,” he said, stating he has had numerous conversations with officials about the need to clarify the developmental code.
“Is it indoor space, is it not indoor space, is it outdoor space?” he said.
Blumberg asked Administrator Patrick Moran to listen to testimony during the two planning board meetings and review the D&R, “so that we can have an idea if there are things we can or cannot do.”
After being contacted by Downbeach.com, the owners’ attorney, Eric Goldstein, issued a brief statement on their behalf, noting the Hiltners hope they can "peacefully coexist with their neighbors for a long time to come.”
“It is unfortunate the neighbors who live next to a commercial zoning district are upset by the limited noise which now emanates from Sunrise,” he said. “The new windows have been installed at a great expense to the owners, and the owners have obtained a permanent Certificate of Occupancy from Margate. The upstairs area at the establishment is enclosed in steel and glass, which is a marked improvement over what existed previously.”
https://downbeach.com/news/2026/jan/27/tequila-bar-owners-promise-to-make-improvements-to-reduce-noise/
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