MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (WTNH) — The city’s planning and zoning commission unanimously voted last week to ban future hookah lounges and nightclubs in the city.
The decision was made at a planning and zoning commission meeting on May 24.
Business owners, neighbors and city officials expressed their concerns during a public hearing before the vote was taken.
Several people brought up a shooting earlier in the month at Hidden Hookah Lounge on South Main Street, when a 20-year-old man from New Britain was killed in the parking lot. Police have not yet arrested any suspects in the case.
City officials said the proposal was created before the homicide.
Chad Spooner, the owner of the building next door, said the hookah lounge has problems for years.
“I’m a pro small business person and I’m all for business but in this case, if the business brings chaos and the mayor’s office and the police department are not able to contain that chaos, I cannot support that business opening,” he said.
According to police records, officers have responded to the Hidden Hookah Lounge nearly 90 times this year.