The ongoing friction between the Atlas Restaurant Group and some of its Fells Point neighbors came to a head at a liquor board meeting Thursday as residents protested the renewal of the liquor licenses for two of the company’s bars on Thames Street. Separately, a Brewers Hill pub faced opposition from residents who alleged the business has become a haven for dirt bikers.

Fells Point residents’ protests centered on noise complaints at the historic Waterfront Hotel and an adjacent outdoor courtyard that belongs to The Undefeated, the neighboring bar.

In a letter submitted ahead of the hearing, Corinne and Mark Scheitler, who live behind the Atlas-owned businesses, also took issue with the Fuzzies food truck, which was lowered by crane into the courtyard of The Undefeated in February. “[T]he smell of fried burgers has become a constant in our yards,” they wrote.

Residents also expressed concerns about crowd size in the courtyard, music after-hours, and whether The Undefeated was living up to its obligation to make more than half of its sales from food, not from alcohol. “We’re really concerned about those food receipts,” lawyer Amy Petkovsek, who represented the residents, said after the hearing.

Other residents came to testify about loud music coming from the neighboring Waterfront Hotel, which sits in the second-oldest building in Baltimore. Christopher Chute, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that sound vibrations from the bar infiltrate his study during the evening hours. “I can’t concentrate because through closed windows, I’m hearing deep bass and drums that are profoundly disruptive,” he said.

But Rachel Mech, an attorney for Atlas, noted that all 40 complaints against the business over the past year had been deemed unfounded by inspectors who came to check the noise levels.

Mech claimed that of the 20 different businesses Atlas owns in Baltimore, Fells Point was “the only residents’ association that we’ve had any issue with.” She also said the hearing was not the correct forum for the neighbors’ complaints — a notion with which the commissioners disagreed.

The Thursday meeting was just the latest flash point between the neighborhood and the city’s fast growing restaurant group. Last year, neighbors organized to oppose the issuance of a liquor license for The Undefeated, which was then an unnamed concept at 1704 Thames St. In response, Atlas attorneys threatened legal action against them.

“We have been bullied, chastened, threatened with litigation,” Chute said. Petkovsek asked commissioners to delay renewal of the licenses at both Atlas properties until owners had time to meet with members of the community.

Instead, chairman Albert Matricciani voted to renew the licenses, but stipulated that liquor board inspectors should pay special attention to the two businesses over the next 60 days to check for violations.

So Baltimore Sports Bar & Lounge, located at 3734 Fleet St., also faced its neighbors at the hearing. Brewers Hill resident Brant Fisher said he saw open containers, crowds and dirt bikers at the bar.

“We’re not accustomed to that type of activity in the neighborhood,” Fisher, president of Brewers Hill Neighbors, Inc., told commissioners Thursday, saying he had seen riders of dirt bikes leave their vehicles in the backyard of the business.

In a letter sent to the liquor board ahead of the hearing, Maj. Albert DellaRocco, Southeast District Commander of the Baltimore Police Department, recommended that the commissioners wait to renew the business’ liquor license until it entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with community members.

But bar owner Malcolm Delaney, whose supporters filled the seats of the hearing room, told commissioners he wasn’t interested in that. He previously refused to enter an MOU with residents who he said wanted to “dictate the terms” of his business. He said the relationship further devolved after neighbors exaggerated the presence of dirt bikers and made dozens of 311 complaints.

Matricciani said he would renew So Baltimore’s liquor license, provided that they abide by restrictions already set for them by the zoning board. And no more dirt bikers. “You can’t invite those kinds of people in,” Matricciani said, “because they’re illegal.”

The chairman urged residents and the bar’s owners to thaw out their frosty relationship, perhaps over a beer.