Advertisement License committee says 'safe to say' Zen Lounge will be sanctioned Club installs new 12-camera security system Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Burlington City Council License Committee will decide in the coming weeks if Zen Lounge's liquor license should be revoked. Watch the story here.The committee met Tuesday night with club owner Robert Rapatski, his lawyer, Andrew Manitsky, Lt. Paul Glynn, of the Burlington police department and Matt Gonyo, an investigator from the department of liquor control.Tom Ayres, the chairman of the subcommittee, said the group discussed the Dec. 27 shooting outside of the nightclub and some of the allegations that arose in its wake. Police allege noncooperation on the part of Zen Lounge over the past two years.In an email sent to the media the day after the shooting last month, the police department calls out Zen Lounge for having a "disturbing history of non-cooperation with police.""You can always demand a search warrant to turn over video evidence, but one of the specifications of a liquor license is that you cooperate with the police," said Chief Brandon del Pozo at a press conference on Dec. 30. "Here , it's nothing but search warrants and saying we don't have the videos or our system doesn't record."According to the department of liquor control, Zen Lounge opened on lower Church Street in 2014.Ayres said this is the first time that allegations like this have come to his attention."We, as a committee, will make a determination as to whether we want to add additional conditions or up to and including revocation of that license," Ayres said.Zen Lounge was fined $250 once for not cooperating with police, according to DLC's enforcement history. Yet the Burlington Police Department claims Zen Lounge was the subject of 60 police incidents in 2015."Lt. Glynn was very explicit in citing a number of incidents where they felt Zen lounge was non-compliant with investigative officers," Ayres said of their discussion Tuesday night.Since the shooting, the club has installed a new 12-camera security system and told city officials that bouncers now screen patrons with metal detector wands on Friday and Saturday nights.Manitsky, the club's attorney, issued this statement Wednesday:"We want to do everything we can to help ensure a safe downtown. We mean it. That's why we have taken new steps, including a 12-camera security system. As you know, that isn't legally required, but we are doing it anyway, because it is a deterrent, and it helps law enforcement."The license committee isn't obligated to modify the club's existing permit just because police are making the request, but Ayres said it's safe to say they will.The city clerk hasn't scheduled when the formal hearing will take place, but it'll apparently be sooner than later.