Anderson’s Cafe, the longtime neighborhood club on First North Street, was denied a permit to reopen by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen who announced results of their administrative review Tuesday. The permit had been denied earlier by the city’s zoning staff and its lay board of appeals.

“I would like to be the one to make the motion that this appeal is denied as a result of the hearing that was had; the citizens who have come forth,” said Mayor Paul Winfield. “I am a neighbor in that community and I don’t believe that an appeal would be proper.” 

Building owner Louis Spencer — one of three surviving members of the popular 1950s band, The Red Tops — argued at an Aug. 17 public hearing the city had never properly notified him his club would not be allowed to reopen if it were ever closed for more than 60 days. It had been “grandfathered in” when the area was zoned for residential use.

Others at the hearing spoke on behalf of Spencer’s character and the historical significance of the club, which dates to the 1940s, however, even more spoke about the criminal activity they said the club drew to the neighborhood.

Before voting on the matter Tuesday, North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield asked Zoning Administrator Dalton McCarty if Anderson’s Cafe could reopen as a restaurant should it be denied a review to reopen as a club.

“No, because it’s zoned residential I wouldn’t be allowed to issue a license for any kind of commercial activity,” said McCarty. “The property could be fixed up for single family residential use.” 

When the zoning maps were drawn up in 1971, Anderson’s Cafe was located in the middle of an area zoned for residential use only. It has since been considered a “nonconforming use,” which by local ordinance is allowed to remain in operation as long as it does not close for more than 60 days. At the hearing, McCar-ty presented the board with a letter dated Feb. 23, from former proprietor Charles Clark, stating the club had been closed since Aug. 17, 2008. Spencer had said he was never aware of the closing and had been told by past city officials Anderson’s would always be allowed to operate.

If Spencer wants to press the issue further, he may take the matter to circuit court.

Anderson’s Cafe is the last of just a handful of neighborhood clubs in the city to close following a change in the local beer sales ordinance in May 2008. The ordinance required clubs to close earlier in the evening and also made brown-bagging — or carrying beer or alcohol into the club — illegal. Over the past year, several people wishing to reopen closed neighborhood clubs have had their request denied by the zoning board.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com