Jimmy’s postponed two weeks by City Council but “very close” to agreement with neighbors

A hearing on the request to allow alcohol to be served at Jimmy’s Music Club — the key to reopening of the popular venue — was postponed by two weeks by the City Council, but neighbors and officials say an agreement over issues associated with the club is “very close,” perhaps just days away.

The request for alcohol at Jimmy’s was on Thursday morning’s docket before the City Council, but council members deferred it until Aug. 8 without comment. Kelly Butler, who handles land-use issues for District A Councilwoman Susan Guidry, said the reason for the deferral was the lack of a signed good-neighbor agreement with the Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association.

Leaders of the association, the operators of Jimmy’s and the club’s immediate neighbors met in a session with professional mediators on Sunday, said Bradley Vega, one of the club’s proposed operators. They came to a good verbal understanding, and Jimmy’s attorney Michael Tifft and Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association board member Jerry Speir have been working out the wording all week since then, Vega said.

The club’s owners and supporters had hoped it would be finished in time for today’s Council meeting, Vega said, and now have their sights strongly set on Aug. 8.

“Right now, we have the next two weeks,” Vega said.

Reached by phone after the meeting, Speir said Sunday’s mediation process was extremely successful, and said it was crucial to have all the parties in one place with a professional leading the discussion. Speir said part of the mediation process precludes the parties from discussing the details of the negotiations until they are complete, but said he and Tifft have completed the agreement down to one minor issue.

“We have made remarkable progress,” Speir said. “We are very close to language we can both live with. We are very close to concluding an agreement.”

That last issue should be resolved by Friday, Speir said, and he will then forward the final agreement to the Carrollton-Riverbend board for approval. He didn’t want to send an incomplete version, he said, out of worry that it would re-open every issue for negotiation all over again.

“It’s pretty good what they’re agreeing to,” Speir said of the club operators.

Guidry’s office has no outstanding concerns beyond getting the agreement with the neighbors signed, Butler said.

“That was the whole intention in the beginning, to have the Jimmy’s folks work with the people in the neighborhood,” Butler said.