Backyard Sports Grill opened in the spring on the corner of Route 1 and Hartwick Road.
After a July 31 altercation at Backyard Sports Grill spilled over into Slices Pizza Co., resulting in four people being assaulted, the grill’s management must appear before the Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners for violating its property use agreement with College Park, city officials said.
In violation of its entertainment permit, the Southern-style restaurant and bar had hired an entertainment promoter to host an event the night of the incident. It did not hire an off-duty Prince George’s County Police officer as security, which constituted another violation, according to city documents.
No date has been set for the meeting with the board. Backyard Sports Grill management was unavailable for comment on the violations.
The Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners prohibited “the use of promoters or promotion companies” at the grill, as promoted events could lead to overcrowding and other problems, said Bob Ryan, College Park’s public services director.
The security section of Backyard Sports Grill’s property use agreement requires the establishment to maintain a security plan complying with the license commissioners board’s rules.
“In the past, it could require private security or off-duty police,” Ryan said. “We don’t specify whether it is police or private security company.”
The Board of License Commissioners may set different requirements for each entertainment establishment.
Businesses that hold alcoholic beverage licenses and feature entertainment such as disc jockeys, live music or karaoke must acquire an entertainment license from the county. Then they must develop a security plan, which the Prince George’s County Police Department evaluates and presents to the commissioners.
“We can’t talk about what makes a place adequate, because then we get into specifics, but we are looking at the entire property,” said Cpl. Tami Cicale, who is part of the department’s Internal Affairs Office of Secondary Employment. One of the office’s duties is evaluating the security plans of establishments with entertainment licenses, she said.
“We are looking at what is your use and occupancy, capacity, what do you plan on doing, your thoughts on security for that night, problems in the past that would want to make you have more or less security,” Cicale said.
Cicale could not comment on the Backyard Sports Grill incident.
The security plan must be in effect when establishments are providing entertainment. Backyard Sports Grill’s property use agreement states: “The planned activities include DJ’s two to three times per week, karaoke nights, and occasional live music.”
The security plan can always evolve, Cicale said, but an establishment must keep the county informed of its progress. There are about 70 businesses in the county that have special entertainment permits, she said.
Backyard Sports Grill’s property use agreement differs from those of other College Park entertainment venues in the city, in part because of past incidents at the location — most notably when it housed Big Play Sports Grill, which closed last year, District 3 Councilman Robert Day said.
The city had problems with fights there, Ryan said, and in July 2014, a patron was hit and killed by a drunken driver on Route 1.
“We wanted to change the atmosphere a little bit there,” Day said. “They agreed and said they were going to do certain things. It didn’t happen the way we or they thought it would.”
While Backyard Sports Grill owners Dana and Kristi Lee agreed to not hire any former Big Play staff when the new grill opened, among other conditions, Ryan said the couple admitted at a City Council meeting Tuesday that they hired a former Big Play manager and security guard.
The council authorized bar staff to testify to the license commissioners board that the establishment did not comply with its property use agreement, Ryan said.
Day said the bar has an interim security plan and has been following through with it.
