WARREN Official orders 77 Soul to close

An inspection of the business turned up several violations.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The owner of a popular U.S. Route 422 hot spot plans to appeal the city's decision to shut him down.
Chris Taneyhill, the city's chief building official, delivered a citation order Friday to Lashawn Ziegler, owner of 77 Soul, informing him that the business is shut down.
Taneyhill said that an inspection he did earlier this week revealed that the building's use had changed from a restaurant to a nightclub. It operates at night, features entertainment and charges admission, Taneyhill said.
"When you have people coming here after hours, it's a nightclub," he said.
That, combined with the square footage and number of people who can be in the building, requires it to have a sprinkler system or firewalls. It doesn't.
Taneyhill added that it's a safety issue and pointed to a fire at a Rhode Island nightclub last year in which 100 people died.
Ziegler's request for a change in his occupancy triggered the inspection.
Response
But Ziegler said he requested the inspection months ago and has been operating the same way since he opened in August 2002.
"Is it just a coincidence that they do this inspection a day after the meeting at city hall when I've been asking them to do it for months?" he asked.
Mayor Michael J. O'Brien called a meeting with Ziegler, the building's owners and several city officials after which O'Brien said Ziegler had been put "on notice" to address the problems that had occurred at the club. Police have been called to the establishment several times over the last year.
Ziegler plans to appeal Taneyhill's order to the Ohio Board of Building Appeals. He has 30 days to do it.
If he wasn't permitted to do the work he did to make the business large enough to accommodate more people, Ziegler questions why the building department issued him the permits to do it. He contends that 77 Soul is a restaurant rather than a nightclub and that he isn't operating differently from previous owners whose restaurants featured nightlife.
"I feel I'm being targeted," Ziegler said. "There are places where the police and firemen hang out that are smaller than my place and have more problems than we have and they've not been shut down."
He declined to cite specific businesses.
Losing money
Ziegler, who had booked and paid for acts scheduled for this weekend, estimated that he'd lose between $15,000 and $40,000 over 30 days of closure.
"We were supposed to have a wedding reception here next month and that's going to have to be canceled," he said. "They're going to have to find another place."
In order to be in compliance with building codes, Ziegler would have to submit documents showing the change from a restaurant to a nightclub, according to Taneyhill's order. Besides the addition of fire protective equipment, inspections to determine the building's weight capacity and other issues also would have to be completed.
"I'll see them again in court," Ziegler said.