Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Legal Services

 

TO:

Toni Wheeler, Director of Legal Services

 

FROM:

Scott J. Miller, Staff Attorney

 

Date:

March 7, 2007

 

RE:

Draft Ordinance 8077 -- Entertainment Venue Licensing

 

 

Introduction

 

At the request of members of the City Commission, I am in the process of preparing a draft ordinance that would regulate entertainment venues within the City of Lawrence.  The provisions of the ordinance are being drafted with two overriding goals in mind.  The first goal is to provide the City a means to control entertainment venues that are operated or managed in a way that puts the public’s safety and well-being at risk or that squanders our public safety resources.  The second goal is to provide that protection while interfering with the operation of businesses to the least possible extent when those businesses do not unacceptably harm the public interest.  The draft ordinance will embody certain policy choices that were made in the drafting process, but each of those choices is subject to change if that is the will of the City Commission.  The provisions of the proposed ordinance are merely a starting point for discussion.

 

Please note that the information contained in the outline is only a general summary of the key provisions of the draft ordinance and that the ordinance itself will address this subject matter much more precisely and extensively.  In addition, the provisions are subject to supplementation and modification as the language of the draft is finalized.  Please feel free to contact me with any comments that you might have.

 

An Outline of the Draft Ordinance

 

I.                    The ordinance’s application.

A.     Applies to all entertainment venues that are open to the public, regardless of occupancy.

B.     Entertainment generally means:

1.      Any of the following if a cover charge, admission fee, minimum donation, product purchase requirement, or table or chair rental fee is charged:  Recorded audio or video presentations.  Examples might include recorded music, films, video presentations, etc. 

2.      Any of the following, whether or not there is an admission charge:  Patron dancing, live music, or recorded audio presentations that are presented by a live disc jockey, DJ, or other announcer who introduces and/or moderates the presentation of that music.

C.     Entertainment venues are for-profit businesses held open for use by some or all of the public.  The term does not include properties owned by elementary or secondary schools, accredited universities, accredited professional or trade schools, governmental entities or bona fide not for profit organizations. 

 

II.                 The licensing process.

A.     Licenses will exist both for locations where entertainment is a continuing enterprise as well as those places where the entertainment is of a one-time or temporary nature.

B.     License fees will purposefully be kept very low.  The current intention is to establish the cost of licenses at $25 for a regular license and $5 for a temporary license.  The regular licenses would be valid for a period of three years after issuance.  Temporary licenses could be issued for no more than five days in any calendar year.

C.     The license would be issued by the City Clerk.  Disqualifying factors for licensure would include violations of the City’s fire code, development code, or a venue’s site plan; an applicant under the age of 18; an owner or applicant who has certain types of criminal history; or an owner or applicant who has had a previous license issued under the section revoked within the prior two years.  If the licensee is an existing business, additional disqualifying factors include certain crimes such as prostitution or the distribution of controlled substances if they have previously occurred on the premises.  In the event that a license cannot be issued within 10 days of application, a provisional license will be issued pending the completion of the investigative process.  Provided no disqualifying factors are revealed in the investigative process, the City Clerk must issue a license.

D.     The type or content of the proposed entertainment, as long as it is otherwise legal, is irrelevant in the licensing decision. 

 

III.               License violations.

A.     Criminal violations or ordinance violations by patrons or employees on the premises.

B.     Noise problems that affect the surrounding neighborhood.

C.     An accumulation of trash or litter in the surrounding area.

D.     Traffic flow problems, congestion, or appropriation of the surrounding right of way by customers, especially at the end of the entertainment event or at the venue’s closing time.

E.      An increase in criminal conduct within the vicinity of the entertainment venue by patrons who are coming to, at, or leaving the entertainment venue.

F.      The creation of any other condition that is injurious to the public’s health, safety and welfare when there is a direct causal connection between the existence of the entertainment venue and the harm.

G.     Providing false information during the application process.

H.     Becoming ineligible under any of the initial licensing conditions.

I.        Failure to allow premises to be inspected.

J.       Excessive use of public safety resources.

 

IV.              Conditional licenses and license revocation

A.     In the event that substantial license violations occur, proceedings may be initiated to revoke the license.

B.     The proceedings will be held in front of the City Commission.

C.     The City Manager or his or her designee will present evidence of violations.

D.     Prior to revocation proceedings, if future violations of the same type could be prevented by a security plan, litter or crowd control plan, noise control plan, modification of closing times, or any other reasonable means, City staff shall propose a solution to remedy the problems.  In the event that the licensee agrees to the conditions, he or she shall surrender his or her license and a conditional license will be issued for a period of ninety days which allows continued operation of the entertainment venue under the conditions agreed to.  At the end of the ninety day period, if the conditions have satisfied the concerns, the term of the conditional license may be extended to the term of the license that was surrendered.  If the concerns are not remedied, the parties may agree to additional conditions and the issuance of a new conditional license or may proceed to hearing on the violations.

E.      After the hearing and upon a finding of violation, the City Commission may suspend or revoke the license.  In lieu of suspension or revocation, the City Commission may offer a license for continued operation that shall be conditioned upon any reasonable measures to ameliorate or prevent continuing license violations.  In offering this sort of conditional license the City Commission will consider the nature and extent of the license violations, whether conditions are likely to assist in preventing the problem and the cost generated by the imposition of the conditions versus the harm caused by the license violations. 

 

V.                 It will be unlawful for a venue to host entertainment without a valid license when such a license is required by the ordinance.  In the event that this provision is violated, the penalty is a fine of not more than $1000 or jail not to exceed 90 days or both.