Jersey City liquor board to weigh 60-day suspension for Columbia Tavern on MLK Drive over nuisance charges

JERSEY CITY — Jersey City’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is scheduled to hold a disciplinary hearing Tuesday, Oct. 20, on two nuisance charges against Columbia Tavern LLC, the licensee at 341 Martin Luther King Drive, according to the board’s published agenda. The penalty recommended on the agenda is a 60-day suspension of its liquor license.

The agenda for the board’s Tuesday meeting lists two counts against license #0906-33-080-003: Count 1, “Maintaining a Nuisance,” and Count 2, “Public Nuisance.” Both cite N.J.A.C. 13:2-23.6(b), and each carries a recommended 30-day suspension, for a total of 60 days.

That state rule says every licensee “shall operate its business in an orderly and lawful fashion, so as not to constitute a nuisance.” It adds that a licensee’s responsibility “includes the conduct of the licensee, its employees and patrons, if such conduct is contrary to the public health, safety and welfare.”

The agenda does not describe the incidents behind the charges, give their dates or say who recommended the penalty.

How the process works

On its website, the city’s Office of the Municipal Prosecutor says the Jersey City Police Department’s ABC Unit investigates and issues ABC violations, and the office’s assistant prosecutors then prosecute them before the ABC Board. The board’s three commissioners, appointed by the mayor to three-year terms, “act as independent fact finders and adjudicate ABC violations,” the page says.

According to the same page, the penalty in a case “depends upon the seriousness of the violation and the prior history of the violator,” and penalties can range from monetary penalties for minor infractions to license suspension or revocation for more serious ones.

The charges against Columbia Tavern LLC are allegations. The penalty listed on the agenda is a recommendation; the board decides whether the charges are proven and what penalty, if any, to impose.

Questions to the city and the business

On Saturday, Oct. 17, Hudson TV emailed the City of Jersey City’s Department of Public Safety spokesperson and asked what incidents the two counts are based on and when they happened; whether police reports, arrests or calls for service are connected to them, and if so how many and over what period; who recommended the 60-day penalty; whether the license has had earlier violations or suspensions; and whether the licensee has been offered a settlement or the hearing is expected to go forward Tuesday. Hudson TV asked for a response by noon Monday, Oct. 19, and will update this story with any response.

Hudson TV has not been able to reach Columbia Tavern LLC by email and will add the business’s response if it provides one.

The meeting

The meeting starts at 5 p.m. in the Board Room of the Melissa Holloway Building, 4 Jackson Square, and is held in accordance with the state’s Open Public Meetings Act, the agenda says. The board is chaired by Darrell Laval; its other commissioners are Rachel Sieg and Carl S. Czaplicki Jr. Jonathan Rekstad is the board attorney, Sgt. Michael Meyers is listed for ABC Enforcement and Michelle Ferran is the board secretary, according to the agenda.

The same agenda also includes six license transfers and three license renewals for the 2026-27 license period.

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