Modesto City Council to weigh night-life proposal

Panel would keep tabs on entertainment venues

By ADAM ASHTON
aashton@modbee.com

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A proposal for a Modesto entertainment ordinance would create a bureaucratic bouncer to regulate the city's clubs and music venues.

Its muscle would come in the form of a seven-member commission that would check the clubs' operations plans and make sure they keep a safe environment for their customers.

The proposal is scheduled to appear before the City Council on Tuesday, nine months after the Police Department wrote a draft of the ordinance that was considered too heavy-handed by most businesses.

Modesto entertainment ordinance receives first OK
AT A GLANCE

A proposed entertainment ordinance is on its way to the Modesto City Council. It would change the way Modesto evaluates nightclubs in a number of ways, such as:
- Create a seven-member entertainment commission charged with issuing permits for venues and special events. It could discipline venues if they violate the terms of their agreements with the city. Some disciplinary options include fines, suspensions or revocations.
- Require venues to submit an operations plan detailing what kind of entertainment they would provide and how they would do business.
- Appoint an administrator to check entertainment plans and coordinate the city's response with reviews from the police and fire departments.
- Give entertainment venues two-year permits. They would cover events that take place inside a venue. For example, Centre Plaza would get a permit that would apply to any event that takes place there.
- Allow the city to recover the costs of running the program by charging businesses a fee. It's not clear how much the city plans to charge, but one estimate is more than $250.
A FEW OF THE DETAILS

A proposed entertainment ordinance is on its way to the Modesto City Council. It would change the way Modesto evaluates nightclubs in a number of ways, such as:
- Create a seven-member entertainment commission charged with issuing permits for venues and special events. It could discipline venues if they violate the terms of their agreements with the city. Some disciplinary options include fines, suspensions or revocations.
- Require venues to submit an operations plan detailing what kind of entertainment they would provide and how they would do business.
- Appoint an administrator to check entertainment plans and coordinate the city's response with reviews from the police and fire departments.
- Give entertainment venues two-year permits. They would cover events that take place inside a venue. For example, Centre Plaza would get a permit that would apply to any event that takes place there.
- Allow the city to recover the costs of running the program by charging businesses a fee. It's not clear how much the city plans to charge, but one estimate is more than $250.
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Supporters say the latest version balances safety concerns with business expectations.

"It's a perfect collaboration between the business community, citizens and law enforcement," said Ryan Swehla, a commercial real estate consultant who helped write the ordinance. "We vetted a lot of drafts and eventually came up with one what worked."

Some business owners remain uncomfortable with the proposal. One, from Banana Joe's on Ninth Street, spoke out at a March hearing, where he said the commission could become biased against certain businesses.

The people who wrote the proposal said it would make the process of getting an entertainment permit more inclusive.

The commission will "be a group of citizens that'll take input from everybody -- from the Police Department to the Fire Department to Public Works -- and it'll help create a safe and profitable environment for entertainment businesses," said Chris Ricci, general manager of the Fat Cat club on 11th Street.

Currently, Modesto's only check on how clubs do business comes in the form of a dance permit given at the discretion of Police Chief Roy Wasden. He stopped allowing new permits in September when he determined the clubs were sapping too much of his department's resources on weekends.

Since then, the downtown club scene has waned. Aqua Shi, Sin City Nights and The Nines, all of which allowed dancing at some point, have closed.

Wasden responded to a boom in the number of downtown clubs last summer. He encountered other problems that shaped his department's concerns about the dance permits.

Sin City represented one issue. It changed its business plan a year ago, shifting from a sit-down restaurant to a dance club.

The club repeatedly drew police attention during the transition period. Officers complained that the club created a "volatile" atmosphere downtown. The council later revoked its dance permit.

Other venues, such as Bacchus and The Nines, collected a number of citations because their customers danced when the bars didn't have permits.

Aside from creating the entertainment commission, the proposal:

Sets up a system for music venues to get two-year permits. It also creates a parallel system for people to get permits to host special events, such as street fairs.

Calls on the city to charge $250 for venues to submit their applications for a permit. That fee is considered a low estimate and likely will rise, according to a city report. Nonprofit organizations would not have to pay the permit fee.

Demands that venues submit an operations plan and allows the entertainment commission to revoke permits if the business owner does not meet its terms.

Institutes penalties of up to $1,500 for clubs that break the conditions of their permits.

Asks City Manager Greg Nyhoff to designate a city employee who does not work in the police or fire departments to coordinate the entertainment applications for the commission.

Gives clubs up to a year to get an entertainment permit.

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.