NORFOLK, Va. – Owners of Legacy Restaurant and Lounge and their attorney went to court Wednesday to ask a judge to reverse Norfolk City Council’s decision to pull the club’s conditional use permit.
On September 13, all but one city council member voted to revoke Legacy's permit after a violent shooting outside the club in August.
Wednesday, the city argued the club violated the terms of the permit when it didn’t do enough to protect the public following a shooting outside Legacy on August 5. Police say the shooting stemmed from a fight that started inside the club. Four men including a sheriff’s deputy were shot and hurt.
In court, the city argued an employee with Legacy, not a member of the security team, removed the shooting suspect during that fight.
Attorneys for the city said that violates the CUP and was reason enough to revoke it.
Legacy’s lawyer Tim Anderson disputed that pointing out that city officials initially said the permit was revoked after they claimed the business did not have uniformed security personnel.
“The complaint was they didn’t have uniformed security,” Anderson said. “Well, they backed off of that complaint pretty hard today and they went on to something else now that they weren’t serving breakfast, which is something that wasn’t even discussed with City Council. The problem with this case -and it is still the problem - is there’s no record of what did they do wrong that requires them to be shut down?”
The city also said Legacy did not have the same security plan or firm that was agreed to when the CUP was approved.
Anderson also disputes that argument.
“It was testified that zoning approved a greater security plan with a different company,” he said. “They had a better security plan than what they bargained for with the city.”
One of Legacy’s owners, Warren Salvodon took the stand Wednesday along with a security guard who was working that night, and a planning commission city employee.
“I can actually contest to what I seen more than a seven-second clip can,” Salvodon said. “I identified everything that happened that night. It’s just the fact that I don’t feel like they really care to know what really happened that night. I think they already had their decision made before.”
A security guard with the company Civil Kings was also called to the stand. He testified that Legacy had four armed security guards in uniform working that night.
The city said Legacy can still operate as a restaurant, but it would have surrender its liquor license and would not be allowed to serve alcohol.
Salvodon told the judge Wednesday that his business makes 50% to 60% of its revenue from food and alcohol sales between the hours of midnight to 2 a.m. He said he’s not interested in giving up his liquor license.
News 3 Reporter Antoinette DelBel asked Salvodon, “So, you’re not going to reopen as a restaurant?”
Salvodon said, “Not at this time. I’m fighting to be a nightclub. That’s what I was and that’s what I want to continue to do.”
The judge said he will decide in two weeks on whether to give Legacy a temporary injunction so that it could operate as a nightclub as court proceedings take place.
The City of Norfolk previously released the following statement:
Legacy’s Conditional Use Permit (CUP) requires it to provide uniformed security officers tasked with controlling and containing patrons, and peacefully and effectively resolving dangerous situations to prevent injuries. CUP holders must also ensure the use of their permit does not diminish or impair the value of the land within the neighborhood in which their business is located, and does not cause a negative cumulative effect within the immediate neighborhood and the City as a whole.
A police investigation and accompanying social media footage of events occurring within and near Legacy this Aug. 5 revealed no uniformed security were within the business while a patron, Tyshawn Gray, was restrained and dragged by his neck and clothing. Following that altercation, Legacy staff moved patrons out of the nightclub and into the neighborhood’s streets, where Mr. Gray then fired several rounds into the crowd, striking four victims. As a result of these actions, the City proposes Legacy’s CUP be revoked.
Legacy Lounge released the following statement last month:
"Legacy Lounge has chosen to appeal the recent revocation of their Conditional Use Permit by Norfolk City Council which effectively ended all business operations and approximately two dozen jobs. The decision to appeal is made with the hope that this process will resemble transparency and fairness. They maintain a standing invitation for dialogue to City Council, City Management, and the surrounding downtown community."
