NJ Gym at Center of Coronavirus Controversy Has License Rescinded

After months, the fight between New Jersey’s Atilis Gym and local authorities is over, as the gym’s license was rescinded on Tuesday.

Atilis Gym Gets It's License Rescinded

Camden County’s Bellmawr council voted 5 to 1 to rescind the mercantile license of the Atilis Gym after a hearing, in which both sides’ lawyers presented arguments for about an hour. The decision ends a months-long standoff between the Atilis Gym’s owners and Gov. Phil Murphy over whether or not limiting the spread of the virus takes priority over local businesses.

“In a clear political move, the all democrat town council followed their orders from Gov. Murphy to revoke our business license,” Ian Smith – one of the gym’s owners, said in an Instagram post made shortly after the hearing, adding that no evidence showing that the gym poses any threat to public safety was presented.

The 33-year-old Smith attracted crowds of supporters in May when he vowed to reopen his gym with social distancing measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Fellow residents came to support Smith by gathering outside the gym to protest the governor’s stay-at-home mandates, despite New Jersey being one of the hardest-hit areas at the time.

Smith said that he and co-owner Frank Trumbetti had received “citation after citation,” before being shut down by the local health department, and later arrested. The story of the two gym owners’ struggle against authorities became a symbol of business owners’ frustrations during the pandemic.

The state Attorney General’s office previously said that Atilis Gym’s “brazen conduct” jeopardizes public health and safety, with the borough’s attorney Howard Long, telling the council on Tuesday that they have the right to revoke the gym’s license.

As mentioned before, the council voted 5 to 1 to revoke the license following nine pairs of citations against the owners, as well as their arrest for defying a state executive order to keep their business shut down as part of the response against COVID-19.