ALBANY — A zoning dispute between the city and Washington Avenue Armory pulled the plug on a large dance party scheduled for the venue Tuesday night — the second cancellation since city officials renewed their crackdown Friday evening citing safety concerns.

The cancellation of Tuesday's Excision "Execution Tour," which would have featured DJs and "100,000 watts of bone-crunching sound," came after a state judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order blocking city officials from enforcing their ban until the armory's management, Albany Basketball and Sports Corporation, could further argue its case in court.

The larger dispute centers on whether the party events qualify as giant, temporary and illegal night clubs, as the city contends, or concerts no different than a Bruce Springsteen show at the Times Union Center. City attorneys have labeled the parties "raves," while armory officials call them "pre-recorded concerts."

It was a distinction that vexed state Supreme Court Justice Michael Lynch on Tuesday as both sides made their case.

"How in the world does one distinguish between a concert and a nightclub?" Lynch asked from the bench.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Eric Sugar argued that one of the chief distinctions is the presence of a large general admission, standing-room only space that amounts to a massive dance floor — a configuration that differs from the armory's typical concert seating arrangement described on its website.

But Gregory Teresi, an attorney for the armory, disputed that space is formally for dancing and noted that most of the revenue from the events, like other concerts, comes from ticket sales, not food and alcohol.

"If they dance," he said of ticket holders, "so be it."

Although Lynch's question remains unresolved, he refused to overrule the safety concerns cited by the city when it issued its cease-and-desist order Friday. Chief among them is that the armory was required to retain an outside firm to draft a new security plan to be approved by city police, fire and codes officials.

While the armory hired K & S Security or Rensselaer and submitted a draft plan to the city, the final version has yet to be approved and K & S is no longer working with the venue, said Jeffery Jamison, Albany's commissioner of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance. Jamison moved to close down an Electronic Safari show scheduled for this past Friday after learning of the security firm's departure, he said.

Letting the party go on as scheduled, Jamison said, could leave the city open to criticism if something went wrong.

The presence of a private security firm was one of the conditions of an agreement inked between the city and the armory last fall in the wake of an incident outside an October show, The Barstool Blackout Tour, that left three police officers injured and landed a number of would-be partygoers in handcuffs.

Armory officials revamped their entrance and alcohol policies and haven't had an incident since — even at one recent event held after K & S left but before the city shut the parties down, Teresi said. The armory also hired a city official, James VanApeldorn, to moonlight as the venue's in-house security chief. By day, VanApeldorn works as director of the parking violation's bureau in the city treasurer's office.

Since Friday, the armory has hired a new private firm, Niskayuna-based Coletree Security, Teresi said, adding that the city has yet to cite specific outstanding safety concerns. Jamison and Sugar said the city learned about the new security firm Tuesday.

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The repeated last-minute event cancellations threaten to sink the armory amid refunds, lost revenue and lawsuits from angry promoters, which would only result in the massive building becoming another vacant downtown eyesore, Teresi said.

"We can't afford to continue to fight them with litigation," he said. "It's a slippery slope. If you continue to block development, if you continue to block businesses from coming in, you're not going to have a downtown ... The armory is not making millions of dollars on roller derby and the occasional fundraiser they do."

But Jamison noted the armory operated for most of the last decade before turning to the large parties, which he has said led to an increase in neighbor complaints.

"They changed their business model midway through the game," Jamison said.

The venue is still permitted to host traditional concerts and other events, and both sides are awaiting a decision from the city Board of Zoning Appeals that could clarify whether the parties are allowed under the existing zoning. That decision could come as soon as this week.

The case is scheduled to be heard again March 21, eight days before the next party called Stuff your face with bass.

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU