Riverside businesses with live music, dancing or other public entertainment could get a new chance to secure a city permit even if they have violated city codes in the past, under a proposal advanced Monday by a City Council committee.
The Land Use Committee voted 2-1 on Sept. 14 to recommend allowing the police chief to approve permits for certain existing entertainment businesses that can show their previous violations have been corrected and agree to additional conditions. The proposal will next go to the full City Council.
The committee also recommended keeping the city's current appeal system, which sends permit denials, suspensions and revocations to an administrative hearing officer rather than the City Council. Committee Chair Clarissa Cervantes was the lone dissenting vote, saying she wanted elected council members to retain a role in the final decision.
The proposed change is meant to address a conflict facing businesses that already operate legally under a minor conditional use permit or conditional use permit but cannot transition to an entertainment permit because of past violations.
The same permitting requirement recently complicated a case involving Downtown Experiment. Earlier this year, city staff recommended revoking the downtown nightclub's operating permits after numerous police calls and reports of a shooting, assaults and other violent incidents. The Planning Commission delayed a decision after owner Marco McGuire agreed to work with the city on compliance, while dozens of residents spoke in support of the business.
Staff later planned to withdraw the revocation request after Downtown Experiment agreed to pursue a permit modification and an entertainment permit. But staff subsequently determined that the police chief could not issue the permit under the existing code. The commission rejected a requested six-month delay and instead continued the case for 90 days while the city worked through the code issue.
Under current city rules, the police chief must make eight findings before issuing an entertainment permit. One requires the applicant to have no history of violating the city code — a standard city staff said can block otherwise legitimate businesses even after they have addressed the underlying problems.
"Technically they don't qualify as the code is written to get an EP, even when they are otherwise operating legitimately and seeking to come into compliance with the city's permitting requirements," Principal Planner Edgardo Caldera told the committee.
The amendment would apply only when a business is denied because of its violation history. To qualify, the operator would have to provide evidence that the problems have been resolved or will not recur, agree to added terms during the initial two-year permit period and have previously operated under a minor conditional use permit or conditional use permit.
The change would not erase the city's enforcement structure. Entertainment permit holders begin with 39 baseline requirements covering issues such as security, noise and public safety. Three or more noise complaints within 30 days can trigger stricter Tier 2 conditions, as can three or more incidents requiring a police or fire response or one violent incident.
If the problems remain unresolved after 30 days, the police chief can impose more restrictive Tier 3 conditions or suspend the permit. Continued violations can lead to revocation proceedings.
Riverside currently has eight active entertainment permits citywide, a police representative told the committee. Live music, DJs, bands and karaoke are among the activities that can require a permit, while a small bar playing music on a jukebox would not ordinarily draw the same scrutiny. Staff said two businesses are currently waiting in the pipeline.
The tension Monday centered on who should hear an appeal when the police chief denies, suspends or revokes a permit.
Under the current process, an appeal must be filed in writing within 10 calendar days. The challenged decision is placed on hold while a licensed attorney serving as an administrative hearing officer reviews evidence and testimony. The city bears the burden of proving a violation, and both sides may present evidence and cross-examine witnesses.
City Planner Laurel Reimer said the system provides a consistent process for the various business permits overseen by the Riverside Police Department and allows sensitive evidence involving confidential informants or undercover officers to be handled by someone trained in evidence law. Staff also said it avoids improper private communications, reduces claims of political bias and allows decisions to be made faster than a City Council hearing subject to public notice requirements.
A city survey of 30 California jurisdictions found that 15 send entertainment permit appeals to a hearing officer and nine send them to a city council. One uses a two-step appeal to the city manager and then the council. The remaining jurisdictions either provide no appeal because the council issues the permit or use a partial appeal process.
Councilmember Sean Mill supported keeping Riverside's current process, saying the police chief is best positioned to evaluate the public safety issues surrounding an entertainment permit and that sending appeals to the council could politicize and slow decisions.
"I really think that it's important to not politicize these permits, and also coming to the council slows the process down. I think the quicker we can get these issues taken care of, the better," Mill said.
Mill asked staff to provide an annual report showing how many permits were approved under the new discretion, what additional conditions were imposed and whether any of those businesses later moved into stricter enforcement tiers, suspension or revocation.
Cervantes said the current structure concentrates too much authority in the police chief and an administrative hearing officer, particularly because the people in those roles can change. She said council members work directly with businesses and residents and should be able to weigh a venue's place in a neighborhood as well as its enforcement history.
"I do think there needs to be that opportunity for it to still land before council, potentially at the end of the day, so that potentially the council member of that ward could have an input," Cervantes said.
She also questioned how police determine which establishment is responsible for an incident in a busy downtown corridor where several entertainment businesses operate close together.
Before the issue reaches the full council, the committee asked staff to return with more information on the cost difference between a minor conditional use permit and an entertainment permit, how many businesses would need to make the transition and what the change would mean for the Police Department's workload.
Police staff said the department already monitors roughly 400 to 500 permits and has enough staff to handle the additional entertainment permits. There is no fiscal impact associated with the proposal, according to the city report.
