The Greene Turtle at 900 N. Glebe Road in Ballston has been granted a live entertainment permit.
The Arlington County Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to grant the permit, which will allow the Greene Turtle to host bands and DJs inside the restaurant. Live entertainment will be permitted between 5:00 p.m. and midnight Sunday-Wednesday, and from 5:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Thursday-Saturday and on certain holidays, like Cinco de Mayo, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day.
Initially, the Greene Turtle also requested live entertainment outside on its patio, but dropped the request after encountering neighborhood opposition. Before Tuesday’s vote, representatives from the restaurant noted that the music from inside will not be broadcast outside by way of speakers, another neighborhood concern.
Two neighbors from the Continental at Ballston condominium building — located across Glebe Road, about 275 feet away from the restaurant — expressed concern about noise coming from live music inside the glass-enclosed restaurant. They requested the item be pulled from the County Board’s consent agenda on Saturday so that it could be discussed on Tuesday, but in the end did not attend the meeting.
During the Board discussion, it was revealed that some outdoor noise comes from patrons cheering in response to cornhole games that are set up outside. That prompted Board member Libby Garvey to provide a bit of background about cornhole for her colleagues.
“Cornhole is very Midwestern,” she said. “It’s fun.”
The adjacent Bluemont Civic Association has asked the Greene Turtle to move its outdoor seating area closer to Glebe Road, away from the neighborhood. Restaurant reps indicated that they were willing to do so — a move that would first require approval from county zoning officials — but the Board did not include any conditions about the patio in its vote.
The Greene Turtle opened in January on the ground floor of a new Virginia Tech research center.