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Home My WebLink About0164.094i I , , • ~:'. . .- " Febru.ary ~ 7, 1994 HONORABLE CITY COUNC!L Palo ~toJ California 3301 11 Caming Real· Appeal of Use Permit BevgcatiQD Members of the Council! RlPORT IN BEISr : This is an appeal of the Zoning Administrator's decision to revoke conditional use permit 73-UP-22. granted to an eating and drinking use at 3901 B1 camino Real, last legally occupied by La Cumbre_ The use permit al.lowB recorded music and dancing associaeed with th~ on-site sale and consumption of liquor, beer and vine. on October 21, 1993. the ZO:dD9 Administrator scheduled a public bearing to review Use Permdt 73-UP-22, prompted by complaints chat La C'umbre was being operated in violation of use permit condition number one, and in a manner detrimental to the public health, safety and wel.tare, and because of a high number of Police Department calls tor service. A more detailed account of the issues prompting the review of the use permit and those discussed at the Zoning ~ni8trator hearing is listed in the attached Planning Commission staff report, dated January 26, 1994. 8 The use permdt review is allowed under Section 1B.90,080 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMCl and allows the Zoning Administrator to hold a public hearing in the case where the conditions of a use permit have not been complied with, or evidence indicates that the use is being conducted in a manner detrimental to the public hea.lth. safetl-r or welfare. FollOWing the public hearing. the Zoning Admdnistrator may either modify or revoke the permit. CMR:154:94 on November ., 1993 the Zoning AdnQnistrator rendered a decision to revoke Use Permit 73-UP-22, based on ~he findings listed in the attached decision. on November 12, 1993, Mr. Tenenbaum, acting on behalf of the business operatcr, filed an appeal of the Zoning Admd~istcator's decision. The appeal is included in the Planning Cournission st.aff rep0rt. PLbNNIHG QQMMISSION bCI10N On February 9. 1994, the Planning Commission voted 6-1 (Beecham voted no) to recommend that the City Council uphold the Zoning Administrator's decision to revoke Use permit 73-UP-22. based on the findings listEd below, and without prejudice co a new use permit application for a similar use {draft excerpc minutes are attached). A previous motion to modify the use permit conditions and mocitor the use over a specified period failed 3-4 {Schmidt, Schink, and Beecham voted yes) . In ~achin9 their deci&io~, the Planning Commission determined that neither the current busi,ness owner. Haroutune Auanessian, nor his brother, Ari Auanessian, who indicated that he is under contract to purchase the club. possessed the commitment to comply with current or additional conditions of the use permdt. The lack of t:nJst and ccmml.l:.ment of tbe owners and management was enforced by the current owner's disregard for condition number one of Use Permit 73-UP-22, Which is violated by providing live music when only recorded music is allowed. under questioning from several Commissioners, the prospective owner stated that if all~d to operate under the curr@nt use permit, the business wou2d continue to provide li~e music in violation of condition number one. He also understated the physical limitations of the site fer a use of the current club;s intensity by stating that there were 100 on-site parking spaces where onl.y 23 exist. The Commission also based thei~ recommendation to zevoke ~be use permit. on Police Depart.ment r:ecords. which indicate that calls for service between Aug~st 1992 and August 199~ tota~ed 82, the highest total for any establishment in the City during that period. The violent nature of the incidects directly attributed to La Cumbre and the frequency of calls for service poses a threat to t_he public health. safety and "elfare~ RllCO!ti!OOlATION The Planning ComGdssion recommends that the City Council uphold the zoning Administratoz·' s decieion to re .... --oke Use Permit 73-1..TP- 22, based on the findings provided below. 2/1.7/94. Page 2 • FINpINGS l~ The existing use at its current location is detri~tal and injurious to property an.:! impro,\...-ements in the vicinity~ and is detrimental to the public healch, safety, and welfare, as evidenced by the Barron Park and Ventura neighborhood ~sideD~s wbo testified at a public hearing that La Cumbre and its patrons create high levels of noise, both from within the building and on adjacent properties, excessive litter and human waste throughout the area, and parking and traffic prOOlems associated with the lack of adequa,te on site parking. Neighbors who have be~~ involved in the "?olice Department "ricle along" program and who have reviewed the public Police Department records testified that they are fearful ot crimdnal and riotous activities, including weapon and drug related critoos associated wit.h the use. This fear and redUced feeling of neighborhood security is exacerbated by the lack of club management response to the neighborhood concerns. The neighborhood testimony was corroborated by Police Department records and testimony from Officers who ha~.re responded to incidents at the subject property. The Palo Alto Police Department testifi.ed that. La C'umbre requires a disproportionate amount of Police Department resources, which is evidenced by the 82 calls-for-service occurring at the nightclub between August 1992 and August 1993, the highest total for any establishment in the City during that period. Police also estimate there is probably at least an equal number of peripheral calls~for-5ervice attribut~ to the establiBhment as well. Not only are large amounts of Police Department resources being consumed~ but the violent nature of the calls poses a danger to respondin9 personnel, adjacent residents, .passersby, ~ La CUmbre patrons. 2~ The existing use is not located, nor conducted in & manner, in accord with the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan and. the purposes of Title 18 of the Palo ~to ~~icipal Code, in that criminal activity including rioting, dl."".lg and weapon possesBio~~ public drunkenness and personal assault6~ as well as loud noiae, litter, lack of adequate parking facilities, late hours of operation, and the large ~umber and violent nature of calls-for-service to the Poli~e Department associated with La Cumbre are not compatible with adjacent residential and commercial land uses. Additionally, the degradation of the adjacent neighborhoods caused by this business is in direct conflict with the intent of Program 4 of 'the Palo Alto Housing Blement whicb states: ·Use the zoning Ordinance, other codes, and specific plans to maintain high-quality neighborhoods.w --:;------' 2/17/94 Page 3 • ; 3. The existing use has not been, and is not being, conducted in compliance with ~he conditions set forth in Use Permit 73-UP-22 in that the establishment provides live music in violation of condition number one which specifically allows recorded. music only + Respectf.ully submitted. ;;&=ciyltq. Chief Planning Official! zoning Administ~ator KENNETH R. SCHREIBER Director of Planning and Community Environment r2~ Ci t.y Manager Attachments: Pl~~ing Commission Staff Report dated 1/21/94 (with attachment~) Draft Excerpt Planning Commdssion Minutes 2/9/94 cc! Planning Commission garoutune Auaneseian, 3901 Xl Camdno Real, Palo A1to, CA 94306 Richard Sanchez, 3901 HI Camino Real, Palo ~to, CA 94306 Jim weaver, Coats Consulting, 9057 Soquel Drive, BId. C, Aptos. CA 95003 Donald A+ Tennenbaum, 831 S. Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95128 Tbeodore P. Dalden, 323 Millwood Driv~e, Millrae, CA 94030 Will Beckett, President, Barron Park Association John Benza, Community Business Relation Committee Denny P~trosian, Ventura Neighborhood Association, 443 Ventura Avenue, #2~ palo Alto~ CA 94306 John Joynt, 3589 Laguna Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94036 Hugo Chabaneir, 3930 Ventura Court, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Fred Lakin, 512 Military way; Palo Alto, CA 94306 SUe Brown, 4-039 Manzana Lane, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Bill Bamburgen, 4039 Man~ana Lane, Palo ~to, CA 94306 Maria Gillrade, 340 Ventura Avenue, 17, Palo A1to. CA 94~06 Sheryl Lewis, 340 Ventura Avenue, 117, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Moira Penny~ 340 Ventura Avenue, #3, Palo Alto. CA 94306 David Chaltoo, 3875 Bl Centro, Palo Aato, CA 94306 Jacque Bunt. 438 Ventura Avenue, 87. Palo ~to, CA 94306 Trish Corl. 3883 El Centro Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Constance Littlefield, 4100 Ca~ Drive. Palo ~to, CA 94306 OGn Barskine, 268 Vent~ra Avenue. Palo ~to. CA 94306 2/17/94 Page 4 bee, Ken Herling, 993 Los Robl~s Way, Palo ~to, C~ 94306 ad Jones, 543 Military Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Bitt Harvey, 3885 M3.gnolia, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Jill Depass, 734 Encina Grande, Palo Alto, CA 94.306 Sue Case, Senior Assistant City Attorney Bill Mayfield, Seuior Assistant City Attorney Lynne Johnson, Assistant Police Chief Capt. Tom Merson, police Department Mark Venable, Police Department Lt. S".1e Mace, Watch Commander Rich Cabrera, Ordinance Compliance Inspector Joseph M. Colonna, Planner • , \1;M\,l ""--. __ 2/n/94 Page S DATE: TO. PREPARED BY: PLANNING COMMISSION JIIDUJII)' 21, 1994 PALO ALTO PLANNING COMMISSION Nancy Maddox Lytle STAFF REPORT REPORT IN BRIEF: 3!lOi FJ Camioo RW: Appeal of !be Zoning Administrator', decision Ie Wo'W oooditionaJ use pemriJ 73·UP·22, granted to an ealinj; and drinking use at 39O! E! Comioo Real, now occupied by La Cuml>rc. The use penni! allows m:onled music and danciDa assocUtod wid! !be on-site sale and comumption of liquor, I>eer and wiD:. Enyjmprrctgl " g=SMPt; Exempt from t!Ie pto':'isiom of the California EnviromnentaJ Quality Act pursuant to Article 19, Section 15321, Enfon:emem ."'=Iions by ~ ABcncics· Zooe Pistritt: cs Fjlc Noo.: 73-UP·22 APPlICA"noN INFORMATION Appellant: Type of Application: Dates: DonoId Tennenboum 831 South W'mchesIcr Boulevard San Jose, CA 9S 128 (408) 2444m ~ne Auanessian L'RiIZ, Inc. 3901 FJ Comioo R.,.) Palo Alto, CA 94306 Conditional Use Permit Appeal Appeal """,j,'ed 11·12·93; Application oomp1ete 11·12·93: Mandatory action deadline ~ 1·21·94 I'>&< I §m INFORMATION Propeny Owner: Asse<sor's Parcel Number: Co:nprehens!ve Plan Designation: Existing Land Use: Surrounding Land Use: PROJECf INFORMATION Theodore Daldon 323 Millwood Drive Millbrae, CA 94030 Service Commercial Eating and DI'iIlkin@ Establishmeru North; East; South: West: Commen:i2l!Residential Motel Importer/ Automob~e Service RcstaurantlRetail Project History: 00 October 21, 1993, !be Zoning -'"lministrator sclJeduIed • revocationlmodific3tion bearing, prompted by <Xm1plain!s that La Cumbre was being operated in a maIIIIOT Jetrimen!aI to the publi<; beaIIh, safety and welfare and because of • high !IllDlber of Police »qJartmeot call. for service (refer II> attachod letb:r from Nancy Lytle to Haroutune Auanessi.m, dated Seprember 27,1993). This action is allowed under Se<:tioD 18.90.080 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code (PAMC) am allows !be Zoning Administrator to hold a public bea.oing in !be case wbcre !be conditions of • use permit have oot been complied with, or evidence jndir;ates that tbr; use is being conducted in a manner dctrimemaI 10 !be public bealth, safety or welfare. fonowing!be poblic bearing, !be Zoning Administrator may either modify or revoke the pennit. At !be Ocwber 21, 1993 Zoning AdminisIrato<'s bearIng, public testimony was taken from neighbors of tbe establishment, Donald Tenenbaum, attorney for !be business operator, am City of Palo Alto Police Department rqm:sentatives (minules attacbcd). Tbe public heariDg was closed, am on November 4, 1993 tbe Zoning AdministralOr reodered • decision to revoke Use Permit 73-UP-22 (decision attacbed). 00 November 12, 1993, Mr. Tenenbaum, acting on behalf of tbe business opcntor, filed an appeal of tbe Zoning Administrator', decision (appeal appli<;ation and letter attacbed). Current Opera!im: La Cumlm: com:otly operates • restaura1lllclub under Use Permit 73- UP-12 (permit atlll.Cbod), gramfd on!uly 24, 1973 for !be on-site &a!e of liq\lO<, beer and wine in CODjtm.."'tiOD with certain entertainment activities such as da.ot.ing and lhe prevision of 1-21-94 Pa&.2 • :::: -, .. :". recorded music. La Cumbn: received approtral of their use and occupancy perrnH 10 stan bu.r;;iness on May 28, 1992. 1'"ht dub seT\lCS t'uod and drink, including alooholic. be .... eng'!s. and also provides a dance floor with live music. There is .I cover charge tc enter the establisbmem.. ANALYSlSOssUE§ RAWS far ReyagitiQn Hearing: As exp13iMd above, the Zoning Administrator initiated a revocationlmodific:ation bearing process foe Use Pennit 73-UP-22 because of II11IIleroW complaints regardlDg tbe actions of patrOIIS, parking, noise, litter and waste on and around !he property, boon of operation, and Police Depanment ClUJ. for service, Issues precipitating !he bearCIg and !bose disco1ssOO at tbe hearing are listed belo"",, CaIJs for Service Polia: Department =oRIs show that calls for service diI<ctJy attnbut<d to LA Cumbre ber\veen August 1992 and August 1993 toWed 82. tbe highest total for any establislunent cIuriI!g !bat period {refer to attached calls for servia: summary), Police also _It !hen: is probably at least an oquaI llIlmber of pe.ipberal calls for service attributed to !he establishment as wen, Police Depanment rocoRls show that La Cumbre g=tts • large number of calls for service for vaJioo.a criminal acthities relat<d to patrOIIS including: d1srutbances, figbIs. public d",ntennes •• and "'eapon and drug related crimes (refer to .-1etters from Police Department), Within tbe last year, Police D<partmelll perwlUlOI have responded to severallaxge figbts out:i<k of LA CumbIe, One fIgbt included approximately 100 people, and took tbe efforts of the Palo Alto, Stauford, Mt. VIeW and Los Altos Police Departmeuts as wen as tbe c.ilifornia ffigbway Patrol to control tbe situation. As • ",""It, five people were I3ke1I to !be bospitaI with Ollis and stab wounds, Police also report that eoc<JI,mers with extremely iDIoxicated patre", suggCSlS that tbe esmbUshment ovenerves alcoholic beverages, Police Department repres<matives ttstified at tile b<aring LlJat not only is a d;""l'roportionately large amount of Police Deportment re<oUr<;CS being consuttJ<d by the activities on and around !be La CUmbre me, but that tile violent natUre of the calls JlO'CS a danger 10 I'e'POnding persmmel, adjacent residents, passersby and La Cumbre patmru;, Several neigbbors ... ho ha"" puticipated in !he Police Deputmen! "rid:: along" program also leStified to seeing >ioleul: behavior exillOiled by La Cumbre p.'rons. ~.any resident! Il:5tifled !bat they have lost all !Ie1ISe of security or safety in tbeir ..,igbborbood as a resull of tile violent behavior """"We<! wiih La Cumbre Aftl:r reviewing !he public Police Depanmem n=rds regarding inciden!s at La Cuml>re, ,.,igbb0r5 ttstifIed that they are fearful of continuing and escalating crimiJlaI and riotous activities within their ,.,igbborboods. P:\PCSR\390lEX:R.PC .. ~--- 1-21-94 ~l • ; r I :.' . ' '- Parking La. CUmbre does DOt have I\dequate on-sire parking facilities to accommooate the number of patrons served by the club, As a result, patrons park their vehicles in [be All American parking lot across EJ Camino Real and on Venrura Avenue. This parting arrangement poses a potentially dangerous siblation for motorists and patrons as they cros.-s EI Camino Rcal mid block, wit!lcut benefit of. ttalfi.: Signal. Additionally, because tile All American Market is elOse.l at the time La Cumbre patrons are utilizing the parking lot, tIlere is no supervision or monitnring of the activities in tile lot. It was alleged that pamms loiter within the parking lot and lilaC it bas become • "h<!I spot" for problems wilen La Cumhre closes for !he evening. Parking On resideIU.ial streets leads to noise complaims as patrons rerum. to their vehicles after the club cklses. UH:k. of Management Control On October 9, 1992, the Department of AlcoOOlic Beverage Control (ABC) sent. warning notice 10 L'Ritz, lnI;orpora!«l, li<=see for 3901 El Camillo Real, informing tIlem that variau:; complaints agaiDst La Cumbre and its patrons bave been klgged (refer to attacbed let!=; from ABC). The complaints listed in tile lcttcr basically mau:h !bose presented at the Zoning AdJninis!rotor!l:aring, including fights, and cIisutrt>anca 10 tile surrounding n<ighborbood. lbe letter reminds tile Ucensee lIlat tIley 'are UI1der • continuing duty 10 properly supervise aod prevent such occurrences." As evidenced by public t<stimony, these _ CO!lIinue 10 occur more tbao. year a&r the ABC', warning. This lack of oontrol over the actiuns of tbeir patrons sbows an inability or unwillingness on tile p.,t of tile owuernup and J1llUI3gemenl to affect proper =wily mcaswcs for the p_ of the community. LitD:r and Human Waste The City received complaints related 10 litter and human waste on and around residentW properties in the Vemura and Barron Pari: ncighbodloods. In their letter to the La Cumbre management, datIld September IS, 1993, the Barron ParI: Association listed among tbeir issues concerning the establishment an allegation that patrons have been witnessed nrinating in public and vomiting on sidewalks and bushes (letter attacbed). Testimony was given at the bearing that human waste is found on n:sideatial properties adjacent to La Cumbre and that litter is consistently found in the street, on private property and in the All American parldng lot across El Camino UaI, whict! is used by La Cumbrc patrons. Litter and InIman waste wilhin the area is z serious problem, ODe IDaC can degrade the-residents ~ way of life and dnmatically redo""" the enjoyment of their property. P:\PCS!t.\390LECJ..PC 1-21-94 Page' .. ?f" I I Hoon of Operation The Crt)' received cmnplainLs that the clu~'s hours of operation arc not comp&(ible with the: l'C'Sidential uses in the area. Use Permit 73-UP-22 does DOl; limit the bours of operation The only time restriction affecting the club is me ABC's 2:00 am limitation on serving alooholic beverages. The club's closing time between 2:00 and 2:30 am, in combination with patrons parting in .Ihe Ventura neighborhood and All American pamng 10< erode contlicts with adjacent residential uses. II is alleged thaI patrons continue to loiter w,thin Ihe All AlDerican parldng 101 and on VC11IUra AvClllJC IODg after the club bas closed for !he evening. NaiSC':; Residents of Ihe Ventun; and Bamm P1IIk neighborhoods alleged that noise from La Cumbre during opentti<m and from patrons returning to thoir vehicles and loitering in !be street is excessive and degrades !beir quality of life. Neighbors compliined of riotous noi.se on private property and being awalrened at 1:30 and 2:00 am by patrons 'yelling and screaming at !he top of Iheir lung •. " Uve Music La Cumlne provides live music wile. lheir use permit specifically aDows w;o(ded music only. TIle club's mauagemem has been informed of this oonconformiIy but contiwcs 10 provide liw bands in violation of conditioII !lIDIIber one of Use Permit 73-UP-22 (refer 10 a_ letter from Richard c:atmra). The Zooing AdminL<trUor did DOl considen:d this • primary reason for revoking tho use pennit. However,'" <Vidence<! by !be _ony of Mr. Teoonhaum and further supp<>rled by statements in Jim Weaver', letter (discussed below in Ihe ).....,. Relatoc! ID !lie Appeal section of this report). !be type of music supplied does bave ... impact on the _ of patrons and !he distance !bey are v.illing 10 travel for entertainment. Mr. TeJlellbaum indicated in his testimony that because La Cumbre and previous club< bave provided live =nIertainmcm for Ihe past 20 years and that !be use pennit does not specifically prohibit live entertairnnent, it is pennitted by tile City. This is simply oot !be case. No illegal use i, petDlitted or 'grandfatbered" reganIlcss of bow long it bas bee. in. operation. furtlIermore, use pennits are onabllng, meaning !bey specifK:ally list !be activities that a.rc allowed on a site and !be conditions 10 whicb !bey a.re subject The mere fact that • use permit does "'" specifically prohibit • non-pennitted activity _ not imply that activity is permitted. f':\PCSJl\)9(l1 ECLPC 1-21-94 Page 5 -"I:"ir . '-~,.' '.:."" I i \ Iws &elNql to lhe Aypeal: La Cum"",', appeaIl<tter bases their appeal of !he revocation on the assertions that t/-.< Zoning A<iministrator proceeded without full authority of !he law, that the fmdings did n<>t support the de'cUiion to revoke the permit and that evidence was improperly included at !he bearina. The appeal leiter coDtains no discussion supporting these assertions, l<ading the Zoning Administrator to believe that they ~ merely a matter of opinion a:ith 00 facruaI basis for discussion of the issue< presented. The revocation hearing was set pursuao! to Section 18.90.080 PAMe and was properly noticed in aa:ordanco with Section 18.90.030 PAMe. The rigbllo provide public testimony at the bearing was aifonled to.1I al1tDdees woo desired 10 speak, including the club', attorney and manager. All evidence was presented and included in a manner consistent w:th the governing IaWl. The decisioo to !evoke U", Permit 73·UP-22 is supported by the findings Iisu:d below, which an: supported by the entire public record. An additional letter from Jim Weaver of Coats Consulting, a privat< consultant CODlraC!ed by La Cum""', was received by the Cit) on December 21. 1993 (letter attached). This letter provid<s the club with recommeodations imended to bring it "into confOi1llalll% with the use permit' and 'go a loog way toward eliminating this use as a nuisance.' The Zoning AdminisIJatO!' bas reviewed these recoI>1lllClldations and has deu:rmined that they wiU not effectively reduce, to an acceptable level. lhc problems a..'\SOCiatr.d with the operation of La Cumbre. The measures lisled in the letter may temporarily reduce the complain!!; and call' fO< senice _ to the club and its paIroilS, but the club', managemc:lll and own<nhip have lIDl exhibit<d a proflCienc) to maintain the high level of control _ to implement and sustain the: recomttJtmdptions for the life of t!le use. Additionally, ~ns such IS a1t<ring the style of music, increasing the price of alcobo!, increasing the co,,,, charge and employing. dress code Ie ",igoifJCaD1ly change and improve the type ofclicnb:Ic", as SIlggC5t<d by !hi: club', consultatIl, are genonilly not enforceable tbough use permit conmoons, and migbl be considered discriminatory and uncoostitutiooal. RECOMMENPA TION Based 00 the above fUlding" staff recommends thaI !hi: Planning COOlDlission recommend that the City COUIlCil uphold the Zoning Administrator" decision and revol<e Use Pennit n UP-22 00-1 on the fmdings provided below. P:\I'CSll\HOJ ECIt.PC 1-21-94 p,g,6 .. ; . , ,.;, ,,'" -" FINDINGS 1. The existing use at its ~flI location is detrimental and tDjurious to property and improvements in the vicirJty. and is detrimenlJ!l to the public health. safei)'. and welfare. as evidenced by the BarTOo Park and Venrura neigbborbood .... idents woo testified at • public bearing that La CUmb", and i", patrons create high levels of noi,.. boIh from within the building and 00 adjacent propcrti<.s, excessive litter and human ...... .e throughout the area, and parking and traffIC probJems .. sociol<d with the lack of adeqIlate oo·,ire parking. Neiglllxm woo baye been involved in the Police Department "ride iikJns' program and who bave reviewed the pu~lic Polia Department records te>tif!ed that they are fearful of criminal and riotous _vrue., including weapon and drug related crimes associated with the use. This fear and _ feeling of GOighborbood securiJy is exacert>ate<l by the lad.: of club ~ response to the neighOOrbood concerns. The oeighbothood testimony W&S corrobora!ed by Police Department records and _oy from 0If1O<rS who bav. respomded 10 incidents at the SUbject property. The Palo Alto Poli<e Department testified that La CUmbre requires • disproportionate amount of Polia DepartmcIl1 resoun:es, which is evideD<:ed by the 82 ~. for·service occurring Ii the oightclub between August, 1992 and August, 1993, the bigbost lOla! during that period. Police also _ there is probably at 1e.ast an equal WOlber of petipbeial calls-for-scrvice attributed to the esmblishmem 115 weD. Not only are large amounts of Polia Department n:srnm:es being COIlSUDI<d, but the viole!ll nature of the calls poses • claDj!er to responding perNOODOl, adjacent res_, pass=by, and La CumIm: patrons. 2. The existing use is not located nor coIKiucted in a maJlIIU in accord with the Pa!o AllO Comprebonsive PIm aod the _ of Title 18 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, in that criminal activity in:1udlng rioting, drug and weapon ~on, public druokemtes.s and personal assaultS, as .... 11 as loud ooise. litter. Ia.:k of adequate parking facilities, late bows of operation, and the large JDDDber and violent ".!Ure of caIls-for-service to the Pelice Departmem associau:d vritb La Cumbre are DOt compatible with adpcen! residential and commercial Land uses. Additionally, the degradation of the adjacent n<ighOOrhoods cau.«d by this business is in direct conf1ict with the intent of Program 4 of the Palo AllO Housing Element which st>.tcs: "Use the Zoning Ordinance, other codes, and speoiflC plans ID maintain high-quzliljl neighborhoods. " 3. The existing US<' bas not been and is 110{ being conducted in compl"""", with the ronditio::s set forth in Use Permit i3-UP·22 in that the est&blishmem provides live music in violation of condition number one which specifICally allows f'eC()rded music only. P:\PCSR',)§IIJ IECLPC 1·21·94 Page 7 • '. A!!4Cbments : Location Map Letter from Nancy Lytic, daU:d 9/27/93 (witbout attacluncnts) Excerpt Minutes of the 10/21193 Zoning Admini>1rator M«tlng Zoning Administrator De<:ision, daU:d 11/4/93 Appeal Application and Letter Use Pmni! 73-UP-22, gtared 7/24n3 Calls For Service Summary Leum from Police Department Leum from AIcobolic Beverage Control (ABC) Letter from _ Park AssooiAtion, dated 9/15193 LeItEr from Richard Cabrem, dated 8/9/93 (without attachment) Letter from Tun W""vcr, daU:d 12117193 LeIter from DooaId Tenenbaum, dated 1161n LeIter from Will Beckett, President, Barron Park Associativo, dated 7/31193 LeIter from Barroo Park Association, dated 10/20/93 LeIter from Stan Bordsgaray, da!<:d 10120193 Letter from Lynnie Melem, dated 10/20193 Neigbbortlood Snrvey P=enu:d It Zoning Administrato< Meeting • :_ J 1-21-94 Pog.8 . .,:" / . ./ Coojg Sent To: HaroulUOe A_ian, 3901 EI camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Richard Saocbez, 390 1 El camino Rea!, Palo Alto, C .... 94306 Jim Weaver, Coats Consulting, 9057 Soquel Drive. BId. C, ApIas, CA 9S003 Donald A. Tonoenbaum, 831 S. Wincb<:ster Boulevm1, San J""" CA 95128 S ... ea.c, Senior Assistant City Attorney Bill Mayfield, Senior Assistant City Attorney Lyme JoImson, AssiotBD! Police Chief Capt. Tom Morson, Police Departmem Marl<: Venable, Po!."" Department Lt. Sue Mace, Watch Commander Rid! CabRmI~ Compl;'"", 1!ISjJ<C'.or Josepb M. Coloma. Pl.anner n-dore P. Daldon, 323 Millwood Drive, Mill...,. CA 94030 Will IIockett. President, Barron Par!< Association 101m IIeoza, Conununity Business RoI";o. Committee Denny Pctrooian, Ventura N";sJ!borlx;od Association, 443 Ventura Avenue, 12, Palo Alto, CA 94306 101m Joym, 3Sg<) Laguna Avenue, Pakl Alto, CA 94036 Hu&o Cbabaneir. 3930 V=ra Cou."l, Pakl Alto, CA 94306 Fred Ukin. 512 Mililary Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Sue Brown, 4039 MlInzana !...am, Palo Alto, CA 901306 Bill Hambwgen, 4039 Manzana !...am, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Maria GiIlI1llie, 340 VODtwa Avenue, 17, PaJo Alto, CA 94306 Sberyl Lewis, 340 VentIml A~, 117, Pakl Alto, CA 94306 Moin PemJy, 340 VeDIura AveDIlO, 13, Palo Alto, CA 94306 David Cbalton, 3875 EI Centro, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Ja.;que HIUlI, 438 Ventma Avewe, 17, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Trim Cod, 3883 EI Centro Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Con<tm;e UttIefJeld, 4100 Campana Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Don Eariline, 268 Ventura Avc:T!lJe, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Km Herling, 993 Los Robl .. Way. Palo Alto, CA 94306 Ed Jooes, 543 Mililary Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Bin Harvey, 3885 Magoolia, Palo Alto, CA 94306 T!I! Dopass, 7~ Eneina Gnmde, Palo Alto, CA 94306 . - 1-21-94 Pa&e9 .. • GRAPHIC ~TTACKMENT DP,T[: J 21/'14 TO STA F F R[,ORT r:-F I~L~E--:N::·O-. --::7:-:~'--~U7.::P:"'--:2..-~2..:-----------t LOCATION MAP: 3<iOl EL C.ANI'N" 1<EI'.L-. September 27, 1993 Harcutune Auanessian OWn!r, La Cumbre 3901 [1 Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Dear Mr. Auanessian: "~ <':;-~--: __ • .'C: •. ,~/~ City: of Palo Alto Departmemo(YWL'ling and Cmununity 8roi",,,,,,,,,,/ Subject; Rt::voc.ation Hearing on October 21, 1993 at 3:00 pm fDr ~s. P'rm;t 73-UP-22, 39Qlo3903 [1 Camino Rpal. Palo Alto, CA Pursuant to Pal~ Alto Municipal Cod~ S~ction 18.90.080, the Zoning Administrator ~as scheduled a public nearing to consider the revocation or modification of Conditional Use Permit 73-UP-22 (attached), granted to a previous use on t~e site of your business establishment, La Curnbre. The yse permit allows on~sit(!o Si1e al",d consumption of liquor, bee'!" and wine, and associated entertainment acti~iti~s including recorded music ind dancing. The public hearing is scheduied for Octo~r 21, 1993 at 3:00 pm, in the City Council Conference RoofU, Civic Center. 250 Hamiltcn Avenue, Pa10 Alt~, Californfa. Schedl!l iflg ~f this hearing-was prompted by comp1 ilints that your establishment is not operating in c.ompliance ~ith the provisions of the use permit listed above, and ttlat it is operating in. a v,anner that is detrimental to the public healt~~ safety and ~elfilre. These .complairlts appear to be suhstant~a.ted by Police Oepartment records, which indicate t~at La Cumbre generates a large number ~f calls-for-service for vaiious distwrbances. Withir. the last year, Polic€ Department personnel have responded to several l~rge fights outside your establis~~nt. One fight included approximately 100 people~ a~d took the efforts of the Palo Alto, Stanf~rd, Mi. View and los Altos Police Departments as well es the California Highway ~atrol to t:.o~trol the situation. As a result, 5 people were taken t~ the hospital w,th cuts and stab wounds. Police also report that encounters with extremely intoxicated patrons suggests that the establishment oye~serves alcoholic beverages. 2SJ~"""" PD,bl!l2SO PaloA1&cl,CA9nD ~.329.2441 4lS.3:!9.2240Fax The following i~ a summary of the caI1s-fo!"-senl"ice and complaints received by the City thdt a~e related to the operation of your establishment: .,. _Police have responded to numerol'S cails-for-service directly related to La Clrnlbre and its patrons, including th~ follow1ng: armed ro~bEr)', drunk ii1 public, narcotics, public urination, large fights (100+ peop1e). excessive noise y minors drinking alcohol, hit-and-run dri¥lng. cor.cealed weapons} and ~thers. large numbers of patrons leaving the establishment, routinelY violate traffic laws and post a danger to theln.se1ves and other motorists. ... La Cumbre patrons are alleged to vomit Or'!. sidewalks 2nd bushes, 10iter on neighborhood streets, urinate in public, and cause disturbances on and around your site. • • Due to the lack Df adequate on-site parking, La Cumbre patrons park. their \.'ef\icles. in Ule All American park.ing lot across El Camino Real and on neighborhood streets. La Cumbre (ontinues to provide live music, when yo~r conditional use permit specifically allows recorded mus.ic only. La Cumbre's bours cf operation (closing at 2·2:30 am) are not compatible ~ith the residential uses adjacent to your site and the areas in which patrons park their vehicles_ These issues, as well as those ~aised by members of the public, will be discussed at a pu~lic hearjng on October 21~ 1993. ]f it is fou~d that th! business is operating out of complianc! with the conditions of your use permit or 1~ a manner t~at pos~s a threat to public b~alth, safety or welfare. your use permit will be subj~ct to revocation. The City has the abi1ity to m~jfy existing condi~ions or impose additional conditions tc assure that your use operates in compliance with the Zoning Code, and in a manner that is nat detrimental to the publi( health, safety and welfare. If you have any questions reiated to the information in this Jett~rt please contact me at 32g-2321. Sincerely, ~~~~,< HANC~KADDOX LYTLE C.nief Phnning Official/Zoning Administrator Enclosure cc: Sue Casel Senior Assistant City Attorr.ey Bill Hayfie1d. Senior AssistaMt City Attorney lynne Johnson, Assistant Pel ice Chief Capt. Torn Merson, Police Department Mark. Venable, Police Department Lt. Sue Mace, Watch Commander Rich Cobren, Ord1Mnce Compliance IlIsp.ector Joseph M. Cclcnna, Planner Th~od~re P. Da'~cr, 323 ~ill~ood Ori~e, Mil1rae, CA 94030 Richard Sanchez, 3901 E1 Camino ~eal, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Donald A. Tenenbaum, 831 S. Winchester Boulella.:r-d, San Jose, CA 95128 "Iill 8edc.ett, Presider,t, Blrr~n Park AssociatiEln John eenzi, Commun~t1 Business Relation Committee De"ny Petrcsian, Ventura Neighborhood Association, 443 Ventura Avenue, '2, Palo Alto, CA 94306 John Joynt. 3589 laguna Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94036 I · ZOtllHG ,~DHINISTRATOR HEARING October 21, 1993 3iOl £1 Camino P.ea'. La Cumbre ./~.) -~--~:-, ., 73-UP·92 N3ncy lytle. Zoning Aclministratcr: The second item on Yur agenda \5 3901 [1 Ca.i~o Real. Pursuant to Sectio~ 18.90.080 of the Municipal Code, we ~aye set this pu~lic hearing to consider t~e modtficatjon or revocalior. of Condition.l Use Permit 73-UP·22 granted to in e.ting and drinking use at 3901 E1 C~inQ Real, now occupied by La tumbre, ~~icn allows recorded BUsic and dancing associated with the ~n·s1t! sale and consumption of li~or. beer and wine. This US! is in Zone District CS, Ho environmental aS$eSSMe~t is required. We will now hear from those who wish to speak. John Joynt. 3$89 l39una. Palo A)to: [have twa things I would like to say in terms of demon~trat;ng this fact, a fact that the community 1S painfully aware of, and it is very clear that the Cumbre management team ha~ a total disregard for the fact t~at they are operating in a ~nner that is d,.triment3l to the public health, safety and welfare. ] would like to sh~ two ways in which that is demonstrated. One is tnat we ~ad a publl< meeting "on September 12 in South Palo Alto. We had SO or 60 people from tne Ventura neighborhood, the Barron Park neighbor~ood~ and others. O~ring th.t time, the own~r of la Cumbre expressed t~at he had had absDlutely no clue is to what was going on. This is extr~'y disturblng iq that the police call-far-service records show that since li Cu.bre has been there. they have had numerous calls. We have the stat;,tic$ to show that, as »ell. He ~a$ present to learn, and to our dls.ay. nothing was done about it. [n fact, a mont~-and-a-~alf has nGW passed. and the statfstics for police calls are up, as th!y have been. S~bseq~ent to tnat, [ did a ride-along with a police ~fficer. Ouring the rfde-along on SepteMber 4-5. fro. t~e hours of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.~ it was i long d~ and Aight for ~, but J ~ad tD witness for myself what was going on with La Cuabre. What r wlnt to do is to relay what I saw on what was prDbably a relatiyely Quiet evening. There were d~unken aen and women walking a"d running across E1 Camino at one o'clock in tne uorning. two o'cloc.k in the morn1ng. [don't k.now how any of them did not get hit, becaus~ cars were stepping and brake lights were gOing on. In addition to that, J witnessed at first nand 10ud cusic. rt was really shocking to s~e tha:t, since everyone neal"tIl' is in bed sle~.ping while t"'is is going on. And it is allowed tD go en. The pDl~ce officer and] went insjde La Cumbre at 2:]5 a.m. He aSKed for the aanager. The perso~nel inside had no clue as to wh~ the manager was. That was disturbing, because outside, ~~e could hear the loud music. radi9s blasting, and alsQ a co~sfderab'e amount of glis5 and broken bottle$ in tke parking lot. That eYening, as we truised around, there were cars a11 over the place. I think this is probably a quiet evening. Inside, they nad no clue as t~ what was going on inSide. Ther~fcre~ the community has to defend itself~ The police officers are call~ every day. Therefore, what the City of Pilo Alto is doing is spending ooney to keep in order what this busines~ owner (annat do. My persona1 request is that the permit be revoked immediately. 10/21/93 -1- I Wi]] Beckett .• 189 Baker Av~nue. ~a1o Alto: I am here representing the aoard of ___ the Sarron flark Ass.ociation. We hel d a meet in') last week {In Tuesday, and approved a letter which you shvuld have a copy of+ It basicaily su~rizes o~r concerns about La Cumbre and QUi hope that you ~t allow this use. 1 have been lnvolved in many issues ~ver the 20 years that I have lived in Barron Park. Only two times have I ~een thf) kind of rallying support around concern in the nei9hbor~ocd. We sent flyers throughout t~e Barron Park area for the meeting that was he1d on September 12th, and ended up captur1ng a large portion of t~e Ventura n~ighborhood Just by Qsmosis. They got wind of the meeti~g. and .any people showed up_ I did not do I ride-I'o~g with the police, however, others in the neighborhood did, and they had much more hair·raising stories tQ tell about what was goin9 an. It is surprising ta me that th1S kfnd of activity has been a11o~d to go on as long as it has. We stressed fairly heavily at the meeting on September 12 that it was extremely important that the .anag~nt get a hold on this~ It is my understanding th3t there have continued to be fncidents t~ere and there does not seem to be iny effort to get back to John Senza~ the community business relations chai~an. He has met with them, has talKed with them, &nd is~ed them to 92t batk with him. and they have not gotten back t~ him. So there does ~ut seem to be an effort on the p,rt of La C~mbre to try and correct these problems. Therefore, I thfnk y~u need to find some other method for sol~ing the problems. John RenZi. 3745 la Selva Drive, Palo A1to: may be one of th~ newest residents ~resent i~ the room, ~ay1ng moved in a~d tak~n occupancy of our house on La Selva in May of tnis year. I very quickly learned of some Df the issues i~ tne neighborhood~ Rather than fleeing from thea, I have c~Dsen the opportunfty, at thi encouragement of Will and John, to get lnvolved and try and vork through those. It has been an fnteresting several months. 1 hi~e learnerl a Tot. [ha~e gotten to work with many people on both sides here, and I have ap~~~cfated tnat opportunity. One of the Ict~Vlties that I did participate fn is tne police ride-along progrial. I ha",'e bad two ride-alongL It is .. ~ excel lent opportuni ty for the police department to worKJrtith the c.OQIJlunity, and (Clr cOlmlunity reSidents t~ become aware of what is going on. I applaud the police department for offering this oPPGrtunity. It is an eye·opener and is not for the baShful or the shy. Yo~ do see life as it soaetimes exists in the wee moraing bours. One incident in partic~Tar that I recall ;s I fight at la Cumbre which spilled out onto El Camfno. into the traffic, as sever.' of the patrons progressed across t~e street until the pol!ce dispersea them. There were approxl.ately six to eight officers trying to interrupt the fight ir. process. As they would split people apart, they would cross the street in t~ aidst of traffic. rn this partitula~ case, one of the pol~ce d~s p~eeded across the street to try and stop the fights that were beginning on t~e other side in tne All American parKing lot, where many of t~e la Cu.bre patrons ~ark. Just sitting in the car, it is a very scary sttu~tion tG wat~n. I think we are all familiar with some of the TV shows that depict re.l life police activity, and that is the s.fest ~'Y to obsl!rve 1 t . In the course of t~at. I did stand outside of the tar for awhile, and 10/21/93 -2- . ,'-," ·--,:::..- entered into I ratner int~rest1n9 (onversation w~th one of the patrons from L .. C'Umbre, who said, isn1t this t-.etter than sitting at home and watching TV? This ~iS at two in the aor~in9. I did not neces3artly share that view, ~ut J was not about to argue the point. That was one perspect;ve, and that fs an eye ~itness perspective. 1 di~ a8et w~tn Rich6rd Sl~(h~z of li Cumbre 3e~~rll wee~s after th~ September lZth meeting that tbe garron Park Assoclatio~ had with various business OWfIers. Ric.".ro and I had a very pleasant 9 very plJrposeful ~t'ng, to di$cUSS the neighborhood issues, which we documented. r can s~r1ze from that meeting. He is a very p~Tite and genteel individual. There Ir! no personal aniGOsities there. We walked to the area of the propertYt wilked down Venturi to describe some of the parKing issues t~.re. Curi~s the cnurse of about In hour &nd lS minute me~ting, ~e did outline several wery va11d ideas, I felt~ that he was p~Dposi~g as possible remedies~ I was not in a positiQn to apPrQwe those or recommend that he take action on them, but just to re1"force that there are issues that the neighbarhood has with La Cumbre, and if he beiieved that they were possible solution~. that he ought to go forward with them. As ~ill indicated, I ~ave not rec!iv&d any fol1owcp ir, which he committed tQ dQcument those and fAX t~em to me so that we m,ght poss1bly ~ork together with the city to find a MutYal resolut~on. . As for tn. police statistics that Wiil ,11uded to. to the best of ~ Knowledge, during t~. period AU9ust, 1992 to A"Qust, 199), there were 84 calls for service. 32 percent of them involving assau1t a~ battery. A~proxi .. tely 26 percent of th .. Involved lange groups g.thering which requ1red police attention. and/~r loud music. Alcohol and drug abuse resulted in approxieately 21 percent of t~ose calls~ and ~1scellaneous~ a catchall, takes up about 20 percent of the calls. Since the September 12 ~eting. I ~ a~are of ipproxi.alely 10 cills for service. I would indicate th.t I am now walking the neIghborhood at night just to see What is actually reported and what is not. I persQnally believe that there are a lot IIOre ll1cidents that are not reported th-at require poi ice zsslstance. I think many Qf the officers would confirm that~ as well. Tbere were ten reported since our September 12 ~eting, in wh~c~ the owner expressed interest and concern in addreSSing the problem. That represents a nigher t~an nOMlil one-year iverag~ of calls for service. So that is particularly alarming, especially since we have had ~is interest and attention to this. In closf~9~ I person~ll1 believe~ and th! Community and Business Relati~ns COIPittee of the Barron ParK AssQtiatjon believes, that this business represents a clear ~~ present danger, not only to the reSidents and neignbors within the e~virQr~nt and to passersby on £1 Camino, but also to la tumbre patrons. lhere is 1itt1e or nothing tnat the management or owner has done, in ~y opinion, in tbe last 30 days. 1 would strvngly rec~nd that t~e Zoning Ad~inistrator take immediate action_ If this were a co~rt, we would probab1y request an injunction. because I do be1ieve there Is physical threat to residents and community. Jf the last )0 d.ys Is .'1 lnditation of what t~e next 30 oight be as we go through. process, I am concerned that we may end up with some worse statistics. Thanl< you. Sheryl lewis, 340 Ventura Avenue, '17, PalO Altp: at this address for about a year-and-a-half nQW~ 10/21/93 -)- I have been a resident J came here from Ohio in ., ~ May of 1992. As in i"cidental comment. I ended up having to spend the night in the hate' rig~t behind La Cumbre for one ni9ht before my moving van had arrived. I said that I needed i quiet place to spend the night after travell ing across the COl.int,..~. They said, oh sure, no pr-oblem. r ended ug at 10 o'clock leaving and 90i~g down the road to a Day's Inn beciuse"0' tnt noise it La Cumbre, and r didn't get my ~ney back. I was absolutely mortifi!d to move into my place and have my bedroo~ window open and be able to hear the noise frD~ that establishment throughGut the night. Th~t has caused me to buy ear plugs and to nave to close my window during t~e s~r. which has not been terribly conv!nient. So it has been soaeth;~g that I have just gritted my t@etn over and try to deal with it Ind accept it. It Is rather validating to find out that there Ire i lot Qf other people 1" my neig~borhood who feel the same way and who are concerned about the envirnnment that la Cumbre is establisn1ng in our neighborhood. There are a lot of families ~ith chi1~ren tnat live in t~1s neighborhood, and I nave noticed police cars on my street a lot. On the one nand, I have felt comforted. ~nONing that the police are nearby, but at the sa.e tjme. learning a little more at~ut it and se~ing the display of beh~viors that are Dccurr;ng by the patrons of La Cumbre, it seems that the po1icE are there as a necessity to protect the people who live in the neighborhood, J hive a lot of concern about tnat. I have driven do.~ the street a ~umber of times and had peopie just walklng out 1n front of yo~ as you ire driving your car, going iato the place. I have seen people having their car stopped in the street with a 1.rge group of people hanging o~t and talking to people in the car, clusing me to drive out of the way to g~t around them. There is pretty .uch disregard by the people who go into La Cumbre that tney are in SODeone else's neighborhood. I have had frjends come to ~isit and r ha~~ felt concerD about their iehicles. [have moved my car onto the street and nave let them park in my garige. I have an o1d car and I do not c~re if it gets dioged up, but I just don't feel .afe. I do oot feel tn.t I could say~ oh no problem, 1t is a great n!lghborhood, because of the things that hap~en. Tnere ire OCcurrences ~en people's radios have betn turned up real loud as they park ~ the stre~t. There are large groups of people .tandiog 00 the street and talkiog lOUd at two o'clock in the IIOnlhg. It is really annoying. [ali glad to k.nDW that tnere are residents in my neighborhood who have hken the time to try a.nd W1)rk things :)ut with the-LI Cuf'Ab'·i! management. Just tne fact that ttley a;'e not present today representing themselves is a clear indication of their lack of intention to try a~d work it o~t with the commun1t1. 1 ha~e never been to this b~ilding befor~. r have had t~ take time off frOM work. [am not gettipg ~ald for being here, but I feel strongly about the situation. ] found ~y way into the buildins and was able to get here at 3 o~clock, and I am usually late for everything. So I think it is a rea1 indication Qf the attitude of the management th.t they did not bother to show up. Thank you. Constance Littlefield, 4]00 Campana prive, Palo Alto; ] live two blocks off of El Camino, ind I do not feel it is a safe place to live with children. There is no excuse for that k.ind of behavior going on. I do not feel safe wit~ that there. We are in the process of trying to sell our ho~se, because we feel that Barron Park is no longer a desirable place to live. because of La Cumbre and several ~ther things on E1 Camino. ! just hope that soaethiog can b< done. 10/11/93 -4- '. / _.,.< N.ria Gillmore, l4Q Ventura Avenye, ": ] do not have i lot of tnings t~ add, except that the nOise at La C~mbre does not stop at 2 o'clock when La Cusbre closes. From 2 o'clock to 3 o'clnck, they are drinking beer? they oro e.ting food from Taco Bell and Jae< in the Box. They are liter.lly partying until 3 o'clock in the aorning. The garbage in the mGrning 15 ridiculous up and down Ventura. We ill pick up garbage. There has been yr1ne. T~ere has been womit. We just ire reilly tired of it. We should not have it on any street anywherE, let alone in Palo Alto. At the September 12 meeting. it ~IS s~ggested they institute noise control, security people to clear the streets after they c70se and a garbage cle&n~p. They said, Oh yes, we will. Tne owner was going to talk to everybody and get something done. We have not seen ~1m coope~lte. He is ~Dt a good nl!ighbor waft U$. Whtm you have this kind of I turnout of people who are trying to be good neignbors. we should ~ave somebody witM a use pen.it wno is also cooperative with the neig~bQrhood. The crime ~as gone up. We nave undesi~ables on the streets. We have breaki~$ on friday and Saturday night.. It has got to come to an end. If the only •• y to come to an end is to revoke his license, th~n I thjnk you should do it. Bill Hambyrgen. 4039 Hanzan. Lin~, P;lp Alto: J a= not going to add to tne incident list. I de not have anything to l~d that is w!ry different from what you haye heard+ I would hope that b~fDre the end of this hearing, a representative frGC the pollee department would speak. "$. lytle: That is their intention. Mr. Hambyrgen: I really haye just one thought. I understand that ta CUMbre is operating under a conditional use penalt and that tnis is not I norwal sort of usage for t~1s portion of E1 Camino. I t~ink the burden i5 on the owners of L. Cumhre to de8Dnslrate why they should be .llowed to cDntfnue to operate. We have all ~eird plenty of reasons why they should not. J think that under the circ~stances~ th~ burden is on t~em as to vhl they should be allowed to continue to operate, rather than Why it should be revoked. MQirt Penny. 340 ventura Avenug. '1: ] live in the same building as Sheryl and Haria Gillmore, I guess what droye me here is that misery loves company. When J ~ awaker.ed at two in the -arning, you feel pretty heIple,s and alone. Thank good"e" my better judgDtnt has kept .. from stonling outside in ~ skivvies and yelling and s~reaming at these people who are yelling and screaming on the lawn ~ext door. if I were an 1apu1siye pers~n, r WQuld do that, even tho~9h it probablj would not be a good ;d.a. To share some of my own experiences~ I liye i" a downstairs apartment near the front of the building at 340 Ventura. J a. wary rareiy bothered by noise from t~e establishment itself. It does not seem to reat~ me on the bottom floor~ Every once in a while, I hear I bass beat, but I hay! never been bcthered by it. It is IIWstly He noise coming out of La Cumbre between 1:30 and 2 in thf morning~ the peak ~ours. There has been riotous noise on the lawn next door. It sounds like 20 guys yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. It sounds like i riot. ~s. Lytle: On the lawn next door at 316 Ventura? Ms. Penny~ Yes. That is where it sounds like the nOise i$ coming from. 10/21/93 -5- .. It might be out on th~ street, but it sounds like it is 25 feet from my bedro~ window. J have heard threats being e~changed. I seemed to have dev&loped I talent for integrating this noise into my dreams for awhi1e! Then] woyld realize it is really nappening. So nOlse is the Number One problem, is far is I am concerned. This is not mentlDning the parki~g and the litter problem. You feel rip~ed Qff when you come home anytime after 9 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday night, a"d you live there~ but you can't find a parking place. I have parked on Plrk Ayenue. A1so, the litter. ~ave lived on this street for f~ur-and·a·half years. and the litter proble. is • lot worse than it use~ to be. in ali fairness , since that Septel'lb!r 12 !lleeting, I have not heard .any ~re noise, but I ~ only speaking for r$self. payj~ Chalton. 3875 El C.ntro. Palo Alt2: I am tal~;ng on behalf of the Barron Park Association. As part of our Udng. we did pass out a flyer announcing this ~etin9 and asking people to COMe. Also. there was a petiticn in one of th~ establishments for people to sign which said, ·We. tne undersigned residents liviog near La Cumbre night club, have become increas1ngly concerned acaut disturbances caused by its patron$. We belie"e Ulat La ClJ8Ibre (lperateos in a manner which is detrimental to our hea1th, safety I~d welfare. Tnis bUSiness 1$ 'nco~patible with a residential c~n1ty. The disturbances caused by La Cumbre and its patrons have included: Violent betjavior, street brawls, drunker. and diSOrderly conduct. excessive noise, public urination and wo.iting. broken glass and liter in our nei9hbof~Ood sidewalKS. We believe the sitUation is no longer tolerable~ and we recommend to the City of Palo Alto that La CUMbre's condit1onal use penait be revoked.· We hawe 140 sig"atures. Jacque Hunt, 43S Ventura A~e~ue. '7: 1 have lived It this address for 12 years. When I ma~ed there. my children were in the fourth gra~e, and now they are in college. The noise has always been i problem with Compadre's. We have other problems in our neighborhood, like the gas station n~ that is going to be(o~ a Jiffy lube. It lOOKS like a garblge dump. I have called people to take care of tnat, and hopefully, they will. Otherwise~ you will probably hear that coming up pretty soon. But the element that hangs out at La Cumbre now within the last year has ~de such a difference. 1 ha~e jar~ of urine in the dr1ve~aJ. Peop1e are jumping o~er the f~nces. Somebody tripped our power switches outside. I work the graveyard shift. so I probably see more at night when 1 leave for werle Orle night there-wc:s a car in front of me at the stop sign. They had come out of La tumbre. I turned out of my driveway. which is a1.05\ across the street. We turned onto El Ca.ino~ and these g~ys who had come out of La Cumbre started harassing two young girls in a car on El Camino. They were drunk. They got behind the girls. The girls moved away from them, "nO they got behind them .ga;n, yelling at th ... 1 started beeping ay horn to try and stop it. Final1Y9 t~ey turned off on University Avenue. Besides the gross things we'have to deal with, and all the no1se~ ] also help .anage an apart~nt complex, ;nd it is g~tting harder and harder to rent the apartMents because the neighborhood is going down so fast. ] w.as tal~inq with someone in tn.1building .bout the gas station. He said that the area is getting better and better all the time. ] said to him, you don't live here or you would not SiY it is getting better. It is getting worse and worse. In the past year. it has just gotten horrible. I think 10/21/93 -6- • / '--.-~--- I see it i lot more at n'ght because of the time I leave at night. J hear th.at there are prostitutes f'langing OlJt there. I dOrl't "now if 1 would know on~ whe~ I saw one~ but I hear that th~y are tn!re. A lQt of things I ~m forgetti~g bscause I am neryou~! but noise from La Cumbre tHiS been a problem ,,11 iI,long. I have raised tw{) kids there by ~$elf. and I have worke~ a 10t of jobs. I have called the police. I f~el that the statis~ic$ you ire getting aye only the talls m~de to the 911 nwnber. When I call, [ cill the non-emergency nu~er, and r am encouraged to call the nonaemergency n~T. So [ am s~re tnat figure could be doubled or tripled. I would just lo,,,e to see all thE" licenses revoked of the places there that interfere with people who work every d~. Now my kids are grown. [work full time, and] gD to school full time. When I want to sTeep, 1 ~ant to sleep. 1 need to sleep. This is a residential arej, and then you have the cornet, where they art keeping all the residents who are trying to make a living and be respectable citizens from bei~ able tQ get a night's sleep9 which affects their work, which afrects their lives. I wo~ld like to see the whole ar&a cleaned up. The restaurar.ts that wer~ t~ere before they became baT5 ~re great. They were quiet. Tfii"j-closed fairly early. Wheil someone f1naily reaches ttle point where they call the police, they are at the~r wit's end. The) have already listened to it for montns. ha~e dealt wlt~ it, have t~rned up the radio, etc.~ before they call the polfce. Hugo Cnabgnjer. 391Q yentM~A Court. Palo Alto: [have lived in Palo Alto for the la$t 12 years. All I can do is to corroborate what everyone has $aid about garbage, riots. and noise, especially at night. at 2 and 1 o'clock in the DOrni~g. We just cannot sleep. There are loud radios, loud talkIng, and r lrO"ld 1 !ke the license ef la Cumb •• to be revoked. Fred Lakin. SlZ Mjlitarv Way. palo Alta. CA: [would like to present one observation abo~t the degree of cooperation that the La Cumbre manage.ent showed ~fter the September 12th meeting. At that meEting. r thought the one concrete outcome was that Harry, the owner, said, t~e All American parting lot is a problea. We agree. We know t~at aur pitrons are c ... ting broke. glass and garbage. I will have ~ people clean it up. Thfs is sometning we do at our other establis~nt, and we can do this here t~o, even though it is not o~r parking lot. If you are root familiar with this, i lot of the patrons park in the All American parking lot, and then go there afterwards and party and lea~E stuff a11 Dyer. A month later. I talked to t"e clerk at ttle All Amer~c:an marke-t, and Hey laughed. They said, no way was 1t ever done at all. This is such a s~ll thing. 5..,. of the tilings we are talking about, admittedly. could take so.e time to accomplish~ but si~ly having yo~r busboys go across the street a"d p;ck "P the garbage left by your patrens should be •• sy. I offer this as f~rtner evidence of a lack of cooperation. Sue Brown. 4039 Manzao. palo AltO· CA: I ~ sure everyone is prett} much aWire that there was an incident outside La tumbre which required police resources fro. Pilo Alto, Stanford, Mountair. View, Los Altos and t~e Cal1fornia Hig~ay Patrol. Five people were hospitalized. I j~st don't think it is appropriate for tnat sort of thing to go on in o~r neighborhood. I also have. quote here from a Palo Alto Weekly orticl. w~fch says that obviously, there are some problems. Mr. Tenenbaum i5 q~oted is saying, ~Hy cli~nts want to do ~verything they can s~ that residents can ha"'e peace and Quiett but there are tradeoffs. too, 1 iv1ng 10/21/93 -7- . ~:.'. so close to [1 Camino.- Irish Co~l, 3883 [1 Centro Street, Palo Alto: ~at J ~anted to SlY is to eanf1rm things. I used to live on Vfntura~ 50 [ have lived an both sides of [1 Caaino. Whit I ~ou1d like to say. as a block captain, is that uRoffte;a1ly, peo~le call me to tell me abo~t things that h~ppen. In the last yelr~ 1 received a lot of calls and comments from people in Sarron Park. Association. particularly from women who fe-el a little tmcomfortable about the elements .lor.q E1 Camino ~eal in this area. I have ~ad friends come to visit ae at 9 o'clock in the evening, when things are sort of crlnki~g up and getting ready, have been harassed as they tUfn i~. I ~ave hid thit happen to me) also. We live on £1 Centro, ~~ich, as the name implies, is right in the middle of Barren Park. so we are well away from El Camino Rell, yet we are being iapacted by it. My "",band n,s gone out to ~tch. We get a lot of cars roaring through our neighborhood. I know I am not imagining this. It starts at 1:30 i.m. to 2 a/clock in the ~rn1ng. We neyer had t~it. It was very quiet previously. but this ~as been going on for the past year. r ilso get Taco Bell and Jack in the Box garbage. People are obviously parkinq tbere and throwing garbage out. Some of the stuff in the garbage is very ~nsavQry. I find condoms, ro11ing papers. etc. I ~inted to speak abOut tnat. Msr lytle: Does anyone else wis~ to speak before we hear from t~e applicant? Tom MersDn. Patrol C3pt.10: [would like to say that the PQlice departlent shares the concerns of tne Barron Park. Association. We .1$0, a.$ a pollo:oe -depilrt.ae.nt, "'~~e txperier.ces. __ itt\ direct impact frM La C~re, as well. ~. would like to tell you. 1;ltl. bit about that this afternoon. I will do that, as well as Sqt. Tom Oestafano, who is present today. I would like to preface my r~rk5 by telling you, for the record. that the level of service that La CUBbre requires goes beyond a si~le police response~ By that, ] mean that when police respon~l tnere is certainl) a tiM t.hat .:;S cOGI%'Iitted to responding to the establishment. But that time might actually be enlarged if you taxe into consideration the fact that a consider.ble number of the reports that we have to make require documentation. So tnet doclJltf:ntation, that police fol1o,,'up that occurs and ~ventu.l1y t~e court appearance that also might occur, can result iT. an tnordi~ate n~~ber af hours. In fact. the disproportianality t~at La Cumbre has required of the police department over the last year is significant. We would li~e the reccrG to show that. In additiQn tD all of that. I would like to say that the establishment also presents, for the police department, a concern over the dangerousness of t~e calls that we have to respor.d to. A number of the calls have violence associated .,tn them. The record should also reflect that the estiblis~nt poses I danger to our persQnnel who have to respond. Generally, I would like to say that the types of ca"s that the police respond to are categorized into these bro~d areas: Oisruptlve CrowdSi public intoxication; urinating in publlc; fighting and assaultive behavior; noise; and puking problems. There is i unique traffic problem, 10/21/93 -8· / ---"----------.~"'-------.. as well. t~it tM! establishment poses. That is that large numbers of peop'~pon mak1ng egress from the building, are i~diate'y confronted with E1 Camino, and they cross rig~t there~ w1thnut due regard to the traffic: situ.~tjoJ'1,> That is iI significant safety hu~rd. In addition, there is the matter that you have heard about witn the trash in t~e neighborhood. T~ere is also i significant amount of narcotics use taking place, at leist outside of the premises in the parking areas in the i~diate surrounding environment. So t~at is a generalization of the nature of the ~robleDs. As you ~a.e heard from t~e Barron Par~ Association, there bave been 82 police Situations frOOl August, 1992 to August, 1993 that have requi red our response. It probably is safe to say that at least double that number exist in the 51Jrrounding environment. We have onTy taken ;;-,to iecour,t those calls for se~ice occurring at the establishment itself. 1 ha~~ brought .ith me some i~ternal documents that a~e p~epared ~n I daily basis for ~oljce management by the superv~sors who work each of the s~1fts. TheSE are brlefing documents for police manage~nt to have an understanding of what transpired on a shift preceding our normal work day, since we CORe to wGrk from 6 a.~. to 5 p.m. Of co~rse, the offi~ers are out there all n'ght~ dealing with sit~at;ons~ so they leave us ~s. These are strictly internal documents. [have brought in a few of these~ Which I would like to read to you verbatim, so that you get a little feel for some of th~ things that are taking ploce. Please keep \0 .ind that tnese can, in no wa), really translate what the officers are exper1encing when they respond to these situations. Tom may be able to talk a little ""'re to that. let me go over a few of these. I get these fairly routinely. Here is one frOM Jaly 31 J 1992, I sergeant's report. ·On~e again, we responded to a .ajor problea at la Cwabre. T~e first officer on the scene reported ove~ \00 peop1e in the northbound 1lne$ of [1 t~~~o, and a~other ~O OT so heading for the All ~rican Market. Everybody responded, plus Stanford police, Los Altos and Mountain Vlow. Ulti.ately, three people were arrested for battery. This ~~e is from A~9ust 16, 1992. A freeway shooting had occurr!d on Highwa$ 101. This dDcuments that the shooting was in r~taliation for I previous incident on the 30th of July at La Cumbre bar at 39DI [1 Camino. This one is from October 11, 1992. la Cumbre was a big mess for patrol tGn1ght, just like eye~1 other night. ~hen we first responded to I noise co.plaint, as usual, then approxiaately one ho~r later the weekend fights started. After the fire department cleaned everyone up, one went to jail for battery and creating I disturbance , and a second went to jail for drunk In public and creating a disturbance. !iec""ber IS, 1991: Drunk in public. Frionds at L. Cumbr. attempted to get i stDlen ve~icle. fn essence, what occurred was that t~ey wanted to take • tab h.-e, but the woman decided that she had not finished her partyio9, so she grabbed the keys to the cab and tried to take off in it. Officers who were already there with. drunk in public Whom they had arrested observed the dist~rbance, and took the female into custody. 10/21/93 -9- -...,,,,-, -._------- • . < / Septemb~r 11. 1993: Assault with i deadly weapon at La Cumbre~ with Dne down in the center island and about laO people milling about in the street. Los Altos, Mounhir. \'lew and the Cilifornia Highway Patrol helped ~s get the crowd Yndcr control. Victim II ~as taken to Stanfo~d, where ~i<tims 2. 3, 4 and S show~d up. A" ~ere treated for cuts and stab wounds. This goes on and on. I will c(mc.luda with one final !>ne-, which is rather 9raph~c. Between 1:15 l.m and l!~O i.m .• 1 ~aw three people exit the bar tnat were so intoxicated' that people had to 1 iteral1y Cill~ry them to v~~icles. One woman was so drunk that her male (~mpan1on let her wallow 1n her own vomit before putting her in a car and driving off. Another individual ~as propped up as he walked across E1 Camino to a car. The .are sober party of the tw~ put his drunk friend in the car and returned to t~e bar. The third person, a girl, Wi3 so out of it that two people h~d to carr~ nero I am concerned that the bartender is serving to folks who ire too intoxicated. That is just a real brief c~ilat1on of some internal documents that we ~ave tnat ind,cate the problems ~ little bit from our perspecti~e. I also would like to say that tnere has been due notice to La Cumbre management tnat goes back to July, 1992 when I wrote a letter to Mr. Sanchez, who .as the ~nager, and perhaps still Is. ! would like to reid tha! into t~e record. -Dear Mr. Sanchez: 1 am writing to formally notify you of actfvities or.curr1ng at the bu~iness you manage wh1c~ pose a health and safety ~azard to the patrons, the community and my police officers. Since t~e opening af La tumbre, the necessity for pal ice action on i business property nas increased to disturbing aed unacceptable levels. The frequency of fightfng, drunkenness, noise compla~nts. disorderly crowds and other crimes require police response on I regular basis. This is to say nothing of the additional poli(t response required to the ~eighborhood area for situations stemmi~g directly from la Cumbre. -It i5 incumbent upon the mana9ement of La tumbre to take whatever lawful steps are necessary to oper~te an orderly estabtis~nt.· It 9~s on. N'lW I WDuld 1 i ke Toa to describe some of tbe things he sees. Tom works on t~e .idnignt shtft, and he deals with t~is on a nightly basis. 1$1. Destefano. Sergea.nt: I ·.n~rk midnight tOo 7 'n the morrdns. 1 o.1fI onE cf three supervlsori that work those hours~ I have been ~;nd of a liaison betwee~ my captain and the management at la Cumbre. r rece;~e the calls from the citizens. and ha~e tried to deploy my officers in a satisf~ctory way to deal with the problems that are occurri~g there. We ~lve reacted to the '-ills and hav.:! made TIU!'!Ierous arrESts there. We haVE! been proac.tive fn that I ha~e met with the management at La Cumbre and have expressed our concerns about fights a~d hew to deal with them. [have kept notes on the meetings tl1at occurred on Jul, 3. 9. 11. and 12. 1991. wnen 1 shifted from the ,wing "ift to the night shift. which .as in July of 1992. 1 Qff~red some SU99~stians Gf r_'sing the price of alconol in an effort to curb SOle Qf t~e intoxication problems of the patrons leaving La Cusbre; raise tne cover cha~e to see if ~~ (an lessen the crowd tbat gathers insfde La Cumbre; to stop ser~ing at an earlier ho~r to let people dance cff the ilcohol, post signs to keep the noise dQwn so that citizens do not have to hear them as they exit; inc~else security it the All American lot, at their on·site tot, the problem being that the on·site lot at li Cumbre 10/21/93 ·10· will only hold approx~mately SO cars. The spillover goes across tne roadway. which generates calls for service fro~ the BUEna Vista Trailer Part at '3980 El CL~ino Real, from proble.s at the All Amorican lot, and lJP and down [1 Camino, up and' down ventura. Taco Bell and ~lack in the Box. [ ~yself h.,. been in,ol,ed In breaking up • fight on the lot at La Cumbr. in July of 1992. r had to resort to the "se of my baton. The baton fltled to Ictomplish our goal of taking tne suspect into CYstody. We had to use a pol;ee canine. He wa.'i injured by the police canine. Aga1n~ J ~ad I call for ~t~al aid in July of 1992. I rarely (all fGr mutual lid. In ev~ry instance, it ~as been at ta C~re. tapti;n Merson: Can ynu describe mutual aid? ~Destefano: Usual1Yt the men on staffing after midnight will ha¥e seven officers on duty. That is minimum. We could not handle it with the amount of officers we had on. [had to c.'l for help from any agency that nad available officers. In that instance, Los Altos and Stanford assisted us in July to defe~d ourselves from 40 people wh~ _ere advancing on us after ~ ~ad aiready arrested the one that the canine tO~K into custody. We arrested th~ee others that were challenging us to I fight and were c081ng it us and were willing tQ fight us~ We were in full unifo~. ] base a lot of t~at on intoxication. They were uncontrollable. They were already fighting and beating up the security of La Cumbre. We ha,e taken measures. In meeting with Richard Sanchez. the ~nager of La tumbre, ~e is very cordial. He agrees to Meet wit~ me. We baye met -any tfmes. We do see so.e Dr~ress, but after a few weeks. it tapers ~ff down to nothing. We" again ~et, and if there is a fight. we do see progress, b9t from July, 1952 to today, it ag.ln so'e. down.ard. ThEY are still h.,lng fights. Within the last few weeks, we have .. de arrests for fights. We have been called out there fDr fights. As alreadY Mentioned. this is j~st what is dOCUlented. We do try to do some preventative methods. You will see our cars. Our cars are allover out there. Hopefully, just o~r presence is telling people, don't fight~ We don't want fights. They still break out~ We get called away to other calls for servi(! in town. and still the fights occur, even though we park a car at the All American lot and ~ park it Ventura and El Camino and the laundnomat lot~ We are now working up and down Ventura, up and down £1 Camino, and it is taking away the available service from otne~ porticns of town. But we have to do this for preventative meaSures. Our officers are concerned. We are tirEd of seeing people beaten up. So they make a special effort to get down t~ere~ It is taking up a lot of our time. [ think it has b~en pretty well ~overed by eyeryona. The fights continue. Driving under the influence arrests by o~rsel~es, by Stanford. aM by los Altos. los j!,1tos meets with us, and lite are told tn3t their arrests are up. Part of ttle fOT1:l that we fi' lout for driving un.der t~e influence, after their ~iranda rights~ Questions are asked abDut where they were coming from and where were tney going. They mention that they are coming from La Cumbre. When W! get t~eir OUI results, the results are 0.15, 0.20, and aboYe, When the legal limit is 0.08. Yet, w. do not s •• thea drive from la Cumbre, but this is a fairly common the~ t~at ~e are seeing in our OUI arrests that they are coming from la Cumbre. Ms. lytle; They are reportfng to yo~ t~at the) are coming from la Cumbre? (Yes) 10/21/93 -11- ~, . . '. , , Captain ~erSQ~: Tom Mas described the situations that occurred in the SUQmer of 199,. At tMat time, in the wake of these situations, the police depart~nt decided to put out a crime suppress~on team periodica1ly on random nights to target some of tne activity there. ! would just liKe to cite for you some of the arrests that these folks mad~ on t~E property. Keep in mind that these were officers wearing pol ice rajd jack.ets ttlat were highly visible lIiith all their loeather gear. They were very high profile in a deliberate effort to be high profile, be'ius~ we wanted to discourage some of the activit) that Tom described. On Ju1y 25, 1~9l, t~ese offi(ers that I ju~t described made eight arrests for crimes involving possession of loaded firearms. possession of marijuana, fO!Jr arrests fOT possession of (ocaine Ind three arrests for alcohol violations. We also obser\led several indh'iduals urinating ~n the parking lot. On August 6, 1992, they made t~n arrests: two dru~k in public; tnree open container violations; four urinating in public; and o~e assault with a deadly weapon. On A\Jgust 26, i992~ they I;ade five arrests: One for drLink in public; two open contai~er arrests; one for possession of narcotics parap~ernalil; a~d one for urinating in public. So this is what officers car. do~ arrestwise, in a ~ery visible t high profile fashion. If we went down in an undercover capacity. I wo~ld not be surprised if we dtd much more. So this gives you a flavor of ~at we have heen dealing with. Ms. Vi"tle: I would] ike to callan the representative of tne pemittee at this time. Dona1d Tenenbaum: ~ clie~t is not ~ere, but let .e give you a little hit of background on who the cltent is, and wh.t [ ~ow .bout L. Cumbre. nave practiced in t~is valley for 31 years. and I know Palo Alto very well, as well as ather areas of the county. ] have been on both sides of the fence. from my understanding, there is i conditional use permit that was granted in 1973. There ire basically three issues here. one lS whet~er Dr not there is a v101ation of the conditional use permit. I talked with Hancy lytle last week about that. There is no specific prohibition against live entertainment. The inter.tion of the permit when it was granted was to allGW live entertainmen~, and that is now it has been used throughout the 1 ast 20 years. The other two issues are the police and the neighbors. I have ta\en notes here and have tried to analyze the two issues. ] hive narrowed it down. The police haVE a problem, and their proble~ is two-fold. One, the number of responses there t and tWQ, the activities there. By -there-I mean, emanating from la C~re. not in the general area t but directly as a result of La Cumbre, because th~re 1S disorderly operation of the premises. The second probl~ is the ~itizens' problem. That problem runs the whole gamut of noise, disturbances, etc., when citizens feel they cannot enjoy their residences. That is t~e second prob1em. Any resident has i right to enjoyment of thetr property. With regard to that co.ment in the newspaper, with regard to tradeoffs. That really was not fair. A newspaper reporter called me following the 10/21/93 ·12· • I I j SeptRlber meeting and asked me to discuss the matter, I d'fscussed it with him. The disc~ssion fntlud~ the fact that what you have here is a cOII'IIercia1 area with a bordering ne~Q'hoorhood area. If neigr.bors 1 ive. in an irea that border~ i cammertill ar~a? they cannot expect to have the exact same usage of th!ir property as neighbors who do not border a cDllRerchl .a~'eiII. It 15 not to say you should root have sahty. It does not ael~ you s~ould not have the reasonable enjoyment of your place, but the use of your property and the disturbances you hav! at'e different since yvl,l border il cOI':IRercfal area than H' the closest connercial are3. was two Diles away. Getting back to what ta Cumbre is, is I understand it, it is a eorporation that owns t~e place. It WiS purthased about five years ago. The corporation is owned eo perC2nt by Harry Avanessian and 20 percent by ~T. and Mrs. Robert Pavane. "r. Pavane fs the stepfather and Mrs. Pavane fs the nother of Richard Sanchez. Richard Sanchel is the manager of the premises. That is how I understand it. ] got called into this in the summer of 1992. Richard Sanc~ez received a letter from Captain Tom Merson, and he brought it into me, and that was my first contact. r contacted Captain Merson, and we had a meeting at his office. Richard Sancr.ez and J attended it, and taptain Herson told us about tbe probleE. His primary notification to Sanchez was t~ilt trlerr: were a fe~ polfce problems. In addition to that, he mentioned that tner! were neighborhood complaints. I asked him what were those ca.plafnts. He said that he felt toe main c.-plaint was noi.e. I asked ~at ot"er specific complaints were there. He said. ot~er than the d;sturba~ces that appea~ed in the police reports, he satd he did not know. r said, if you can tell .e what those speciffc coeplaints are, we c.n address those ~oapli1nts. That was more or less left there. Rlchard also told him, in response tc what he said needed to be done, what he would do with regard tD guards, cross walks, thi"9S 1fke that. I followed that meeting with a letter to Captain Merson. telling hl~ that these are the things the Heensee pr!Jposes to dOt following the Ai.:qust, 1992 meeting. 1 said, if these things are not done. please let us know ri9ht away. La Cu.bre realizes it is in a commercial area. It reilfzes it bas bord~ring neighbors. It has a future investMent there and does not want to jeopardize fts jn~estment. It ~ants to be operating responsible prem~ses and having the r.eighbors reasonably enjoy thelT property. I said, If you ha_a any complaints, l~t 8e know about it. We did not hear anything until December. 30 that was a period of four or ffYe months later. Naturally. we ••• uoed that if we dfd not hear anything ~ntil Deceaber, there were no big issues other t~in nonnal ones t~at arise. In December, another letter was written about monitDring the situat10n. We ~rote back to t~em about what we wer~ doing. and said, look, if there are any further ccmplaints, let us know. The next ti~ so.et~ing ~ame up was in the sum.e~ of t~15 year ~hen ] had the second .eeting with Captain Merson. We prett1 much indicated what Sgt. Oestefan~ said, which ii that tnlngs got better for awhile after the meeting, and then~ iccording to the records, t~ey appeared to deteriorate aga\n~ but possibly not to the pOint where it was befere. ~aybe it was, maybe it wasr./t. At any rlte~ we had a meeting agafT., and it that time, he indicated t~at the hORleDWners were getting invo1Y"ed in this thing and that there &;ght be 10/21/93 -]3. ~--------- .. i ~ a homeowners meeting. I sa;~ lf there is, we ~ould definitel~ want to attend, be'luse we would 1ik.e to hear from them s.pecifically ... hat the (osplaints were. We had notice of the homeowners meeting in September, ~n i SundiY afternoon. I att~nded, a~d Harry Avanessitn attended. By the way. be is not pre~ent today betiuSe he had so~thing he could not avoid attoending. I told Richard Sanchez to have his mother and father here-, as part owners, and t~ have them here by 2:45 p.~. It lS nOW 4:20. and as fir as I know, they ~ave not showed up. With regard to the n~me~ers meeting, many of you were there. recognize Quite a few ~f you. Your concerns were vocally expressed, the same as today. You know ~hlt Harry said he would do. A week after that, I asked Harry what .as happening on this. He said that Richard had arranged a meeting with John Benza. A week 'ater~ I asked him if he had g~~e to that .eeting. This is in r~sponse to Mr~ Beckett's st!t~nt earlier who said that nothing at ~ll was done. That surpr1s~d me, because it made me believe ~ client ~as lying to me, but 1 find that 1£ not true~ What na~pened was that there was a mPeting. from what Richard tells Me, he_s~nt about an hour-and-a-nalf with Mr. Ben,a. Th~y walked the irea;~hei walked the parking lot; th!y walked up and down the street. It was somewhere around 9 or 9:30, and they counted the available parking pl~ces on Ventura, which was one of t~e most voca' problems --the parking of patrons of La Cumbre patrons on Ventura. So tney ~anted to see now .any spaces were available at th!s time of nig~t. From what Richard tells IDe. there were sosteWhere between six and eight spaces aVailable at that time of night. So there can~ot be that ~ny people parking there. Howe~er, even if there is one perso~ parking there, and that o~e person is a patro~ of la Cuabre, ind it distur~s you and the reasonable use of yo~r re$1denc~, it should not happen. Th~ result of the meeting, according to R1c~ard Sanchez, was that ~e would do certafn things with regard to secyrity_ He proposed certain changes with regard to the op~ration of the premises. There were several a~ternat1ves that eouid be taken with rega~ tG parking. Number One would be security from La Cu.bre saying that noDody who appeared to be a patron of La (umbre could park on ~entura. Another one would be that tney could go for t~e private permit with the city. Another one would be to put in i ba~ricade in the evening and only allow the residents to go through. It appeared from what Richard said, of these alternatives, the most reisonable one was to ~ave additional security of La Cumbre that would walk up ind down there and see to any disturbances. After this conversation with Richard saying that he had met with John Benza, I had a furt~er conversation with Harry Avanessfan befoN! I met with you on HondlY of last week. He told me that with regard to security, what they had done was that tney had firEd the old security; they had three outSide security; one patrols the area of t~e parking lot, one patrol s the area on El Ca&ir,o, and one p.atre1s the area down Ventura. T~ey put thes in bright colored jackets with the word ~SecurityW on them so that tney are identifiable. They inhrcl>R:lunicatf! w"ith waHie·talkie$, and their function is to see that there are no disturbances in the lot, on Ventura 0"1" out fronL In addition til that, Mr~ Avanessian told lie he had ct.anged the operatlon. of the place sinc~ September. The client!le, as is known to all of you people, is Hispanic, The music is Hispanic, ] would iSS~ that almost 10/21/93 -l~- r , ----- III of the patrons are Spanish speaking. Announcements have been made in Spanish with regard to e~iting t~e placp. and the ~anner in which they s~ould ha~e regard for th~ neighbors. flyers are posted all ~ver tn! plac2. with a large stack of them on the table. stating in Spanish what t~ey shou1d and should not do with regard to the neighbors. W1t~ rtgard to the c~ange in operation, it still remains Hispanic clientele. It is still primarily Spanish music. byt as he tells me, the type of IRIJsic ~ii.S changed so that it attracts !i different element. It would be the eQufyalent, In Anglo musit, of a difference between co~ntry West~rn and lQunge t~pe music. Alcng ~ith this, hg has doubled tne cover charge. In $0 doing, 'n the last four or fi~e veeks~ his volume has gone d~ well over SO percent. asked to have co~ie$ of your crime stati~tics gfve~ to me. They were delivered to me two days ago. Let the record show that Ric~ard Sanchez is now present. With reaard to the calls for serYice~ over a l3-month period of time, there were 82 calls. 1 analyzed these calls. The captain nas told me he has talked to beat officers wnen there is a problew ~5 to whether or not the disturbance emanated from La CUBbre. I haye looked at S~ of tnem, and tnere is no question in .y mind that S~ of them do not emanat~ from la Cumbre. I see yery few that are within La tumbre. They all appear to be outSide. Thlt is not to say that tne respo~sibl11ty of the lice~see ends at ~ts door. Obviously it goes beyond his door. let the record reflect that these pr~ises have been in operation for five years, and the Departoent ~f Alcoholic Beverage Cootrol, to ~ knowledge, has taken 00 disciplinary action against the pre.ises during t,at period of ti.e. I .. y be wrong, but ! do ~"OO that in this period of time that we .re talking about frOB the summer of 1992 to tne present, there has never, to II.Y knowledglP.t bee!1 any arrests for iny v101 ations of the ___ a<:t, either within the place or tne surrounding5~ such as the sale of alcoholic beverages to an obviously 1ntoxic:ahd person~ Dr t.he sale of alcoholic beverag~s to a minor, or allowing a minor to CDnsWRe alcoholic beverages t ar allowing the premises to opErate after hours. If there have been violations, Captain Merson can ~orrect me. Back to tne reports. When r got the reports frO'-! Officer Veflable, I noticed th.t the reports only went up to tne middle of August, 1992. So I asked them to please send me the reports for the calls fer disturbances since that date, beciuse I want tQ su whether there 1 s a decnilSe ir, the ealls since the time of the September Deeting to see whether or not the change in operations, the beefed up security, the things that Harry said he was going to do irtd did do t.ave had any impact. He was kind enougn to send me those other dOcUAents, and wnen he did. I analyzed them. 1 saw t~at in six weeks, from .id-August t~ several d,ys ago in October, there were SE"ven calls. Se'den calls in six week.s is Guite a s"lgnificantly reduced ratio of 82 calls in 13 morotos. So I do believe t"at there has been I change. ObYiously it is not ill change that has brought ~uch happiness with the resident •. J would consider the n.ture of th~ area a~d the investment t~at the own~r has and the fact tnat he realizes that he has a reasonable right to run his business but that he has an obligation to the c~nity, and the lO/ZI/93 -15- ----..---------_. .. '\ c~n1ty ~as i right t~ a reasonable enjoyment of its us~ of its prope.r..ty-, and that this is ii. curilble problem. I k.new that s0<1'1e people here do not believe it is a curable croblem, but I do believe it-is. and it can be cured in sevenl way~ .. w"iUl the cor.tinued cooperation of ~ini9ement, with an increase in security, and with a plan tnat is in tne throes ~f development. It wt)l be submitted~ and lastly, with any reasonable conditions that are imposed by the use permit. Knowing tne conc~r~s of the people, a~ knowing the number of times Richard has .. t with the pollee, and the two tl .. , that I have met with hi., and the aeetfng r had with Harry, and we attended th~ meeting that the hOlleO'llners had. and the meeting r had with you last ~eek., when the police wer. present, I do not think that anything ,hoyld be added. Mr. Sanchez is here to answer any questions you mi~ht have. Ns, Lytle; 1 have no questions. I will cio$e the public hearing. and tnank everYD~e for coming. Th~ deciSion will bE out withi~ ten days. IO/ZI/93 ·16· I • Ci%f palo Alto Dtwrtmenf afPww Ii! ''; arui Commllnirj tm.froml;nu Use Permit No. 73-UP-22. granted on July 24, 1973 for the on-site sale and consumptl~n of alcoholic beverages and ~ssociited entertainment at 3901 £1 Camino Rea't lone District (S, Palo Alto, California. PUrsuant to secti~n 18.90.080 of t~e Palo Alt~ Municipal Code, tne Zoning Administrator set .. public hearing for the purpose of determin;~.g whether the conditions of the above subject ccndit;orlal use permit ire being complied with, including whether t~e use being conducted pursuant to the use permit is being c.ondl!cted in a il'lanner detrimenta1 to the pub' it health, safety and 'lIIelfare. The lonlng Administrator set tfie publ ic hearing after receiving complajnts that t~e use was being conduct~d in a manner detrimental to the p~blic Mea1t~. safety a~d welfare, The public hearing "as duly noticed and was held before the Zoning Administrator on October 21, 1993. Seventeen persons presented testimony at the hearing, including Don Tennenbaum, attorney for the business oliTl:ers. In consideration of the evide"ce presented at the public hearing on the matter, and the reqtl1rements of Title 18 (Zoning} and, in particular, section 18.90.080 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code. the ~ndersignedt Zonfng Adoinistrator for the City of Palo Alto, does hereby find that the us. at 3901 [1 Camino Real is not being conducted in accordant! WltM Conditional Use Pe~1t 73-UP-22, and is be1ng conducted in a manner detrimental to the public. hea1th~ safety a.nd 'WelfaTE, and does hereby revoke said c:onditjonal use penait. based upon the following findings: FINDINGS 1. The exist~ng use at its current 1ocation is detrimental and injurious to prope-rty and improv!!'Ilents in the 'w'ieinity, and ;s detri:llental t~ the publ it heaJtM, saf-:-t.YI and welfarE, is e~idenced by the Barr~n Par~ and Ventura ntig~borhocd rESidents \litho testified at a publ i~ hearing that La Cu:nbre a!id its patrons create high levels of ~ojse, both from within th~ building ar.d on adjacent properties, excessive litter and humin waste tnr~u'9hout the area, and parking and traffic problems associated with the latk of adequate on-site par~ng. Neighbors who bave been inyolv~d in the Po-lice Oepartment Kride along K program and who have reviewed the public Police Department records testified that they ire feuful of criminal and riotous acti",ities, ;n~luding weapon and drug UP7322 .jc 2S{1 HarniJlU1.A~ p.o. b 102:!'.0J Pah Al1o, CA 94..ll? 415.J29.24U 415 329.2240F.&X ~--,-...---. - .' 11/4/~3 Page 1 rel;;ted crimes assoc.iate:i with the use. This fear and reduced feeling of neighborhood security is exacerbated by the lack of c.lub managf!ment response to tile neighborhood concerns. The neighborhood testimony was corrgborated by Police Department records and testimony from Officers who have responded to incidents at the subject property. ThE: Palo Alto Police Department testified that la Cumbre requires a dispro;.ortionate amount of Police Oepartment resources, which is f!~,den~~d by the 82 calls-for-service occurring at tnt! nightcl~b bttween August, 1992 and August, 1993, the highest total dur~n9 that period. Poi ic~ al so estlmate t~ere is probably at le~st an equal number of peripheral ca11s-for-service attributed to the establishment as well. Not onl)' are largE! amounts of P<lTice Oepartmer.t resources being consumed, but the ~tolent nature of the calls poses a da"ge~ to responding personnel, adjacent residents, passersby, and La Cumbre patrans. 2. The existing use is net located nor conducted in a manner 1n accord with the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan a~d the purposes of Title 18 of the Pa10 Alto Municipal Code, in tnat criminal activity including rioting, drug and weapon posses:sion, public drunkenness and pers<lnal assaults, as we1l as loud nOise. litter, lack of adequate parKing facilities. late hours of operation, and the lir92 number and vlol!nt nature of call-for-service to tne Police Department associated with La Cumbre are root compatible with adjacent residential ilnd corrmercial land uses. Additioflally, the degradat1o!'l of the adja.cent neighborhoods caused by this b:.zsfnf!ss is in direct conflict with the intent of Program 4 of the Palo Alto Housing flement which states: -Use the Zoning Ordinance, otner codes, and specific plans to maintain high-quality neighborhoods.- 3. Th!-existing use has not been ilnd is not being conducted in compliance with the conditions set forth in Use Permit 73-UP~22 in that the establ ishment provides 1 i\le music in viol ation of cor.d1tion number one which specifically allows recorded music only. N Ll..tL,~ AANC~ MADOOX\ VTl t Chief Planning Official/ Zoning Administrator November 4, 1993 UP71Z2.jc " ".,' 11/4/93 Page 1 This de(ision will became final and the current use of the property shall cea~e .if no appeal from this. decision is filed by any person~ firm or {;orporatiC'n .ilffected by the decision on or by November 15. 1'993. The decis10n may be appea1ed to the PhnrliJ'lg Corrmission by filing an appeal appljcatio~ ~ith the Planning Department and City Clerk on or bef~re t~e above-mentioned dat~. cc ~ Haro(Jtune Auanessial'l, 390] El Camfno Rea1, Palo Alto, CA 94,'306 Richard S.nchez, 3901 El Camino Re.l, P.lo Alto, (A 94306 Donald A. Tennenbaum, 831 S. Winchester BCHllevard, San Jose, CA 95128 Sue Case, Senior Ass;sta~t City Attorney Bill Mayfield, Senior Assistant City Atto~ney Ly~ne Johnson, Assistant Pollce Chief Capt. Tom Merson, Police Depart~nt Ma~k Venable, Police Oepartment Lt. SUt Hace, Watch Commander Rich Cabrera, Ordinance Compliance Inspector Joseph M. Colonna, Planner Theod.re P. C.ld.n, 3Z3 Millwood Dri,e, Millr.e, CA 94030 Will Beckett, President, Barron Park AssOCiation John Benza. Community Bus;n~ss Relation Committee Denny Petrosian, Ventura Neighborhood AssOCiation, 443 Ventura Avenue, '2, Palo Alto, CA 94305 John Joynt, 3589 laguna Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94036 Hugo Ch.banelr, 3930 Ventura Court, P.lo Alto, CA 94306 Fred lakin, 512 Miiitary Way, Palo Alt., CA 94306 Sue Brown, 4039 Manzana lane, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Bill Hamburgen, 4039 Hanzana Lane, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Maria Gll Trade, 340 \ientura AVenU!i 17, Palo Alto. (A 94306 Sheryl lewis, 340 Ventura Avenue, 117, P.lo Alto, CA 94306 Moira Penny, 340 Ventura Avenu!, '3, Palo Alto, CA 94306 DavId C~alton, 3875 El Centro, P.lo Alto, CA 94306 Jacque Hunt, 438 Ventura Avenue, '7. Palo Altc, CA 94306 lrish Cor1, 3883 El Centro Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Constance Littlefield, 4100 Campana Dr;~e, Pale Alto, CA 94306 Don Earskine, Z68 Ventura Avenue, Pale Alto, CA 94306 Ken; !-ierl ing, 993 los Robles. Way. Palo Alto, c." 94306 Ed Jone., 543 Military W.y, Pal" Alto, CA 94306 Sirt Harvey, 38aS Magnolia, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Jill Depass, 734 Encina Grande, Pilo Alto, tA 94306 UP732Z.jc --,' ., 11/4/9) Page 3 · -. CITY OF PALO ALTO 0tJic.e of the CHy Clerk APPEAL FADM TIlE DECISION OF ZONING ADMINISTRATOR To te fi~ In dllpl1cate within ten days ~forn date ct decision of Zo('.ing ~.dmlni$tratcr Name 01 Appellant J.' & f, :;:;". DI>. k tv., .. j" ... (""",>"0 @ 1.4 City Receipt No. '1:J -,,/7 Phone I "'.n ~'f«-'f? 17 , Address 3"iiJ I t£L .4/.4 (~ 'i'f~DC> Street Zip LOCATION OF PROPERTY: AssossOf". Par<:el No. /1';1 -,/;>-i) 7'}" Zone District __ _ StreetAdd""", 3'lD I £1-~("~ t2.J. P .. 16 0'11", 0'>-<jiJt'''- Name 01 ~Owner r~<Ahe,than oppe/1an!) Th-<o.:Ior-<-~. Do" d~ h, Property Owner. Addross 3). 3 fI1 ,,{ ",,<oJ p r. /111 f; hr#-L-U& Street City !he decision or tho Zoning Admlnistrator dated ~ ...... hv 'f 19..iL whereby tho aw"oconon of I.. '&tz Lt· Pb.. /-.~ Cu", br..... lor a , (onglnal aw""'n!; tIS-L ?ar>a-'"'7.1·Uf'~:Iwas· Ol-nud is hereby appealed fu<the (variance/lISe penni!) <_ed/denIed) reasons _ In !he IIlUIChed I ...... Con duifocal.). Date 1I·/~·"i7 Signature ofAppolanl~ ~ .:J. .. J:Y4d A ./ D ........ I<I ,4. ~"ku~ £>sq_ PlANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL: Dat. ______ _ CITY COUNCIL DEClSlON; 1laIs _____ _ Remaoo _lor Concl1tlons: SlJBMI1TAL REQUIREMENTS SAnS~lEO: 1. 2- 3 . .. 5. Approyed--Denied --1SREC£IVEO NOV 12 1993 ~\e(! ____ _ Jcf:(W1JS 12/89 2 3 4 7 8 9 .' .... ~~~ 't " J ... ,,:,.'?'it}~ .• ::,;: <);0;&( OOlfALD A. TENEI<BAUM ~-South Winche.ster Blvd. San Jose, CA 95128 Telephone: (408) 244-4777 Attorney for Appellant BEFORE THE FLANNIlfG COMMISSIOlf OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO In the M3tter of the Revocation RECEIVED NOV I Z 1933 10 9£ Use Permit No~ 7J-uP-22 11 12 13 14 115 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 28 27 L'Ritz, Inc~ Dbl! La C'wnbre 3901 81 camino RBa1 Palo Alto, CA Appellant. NOTICE OF APPEtJ, -----------------------~/ 1'0 TIlE PLANNING COMHISSIOlf OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO: PLEASE TAD NOTICE that L'RITZ, INC., dOi:r..q business as LA COM::8RE hereby appeals from the decision of the Zoning Administrator dated Nov~er 4, 1993 revoking its .-.- conditional use permit No~ 73-UP-22. said appeal is made pursuant to tne prOVisions of Section 18.92.020 of the Palo Alto Hunicipal Code and is basea upon the following grounds: l. That the Zoning Administrator has proceeded without, and in excess of, ita jurisdiction. 2. rhat the Zoninq Administrator has not proceeded in the manner required by law. 1 1 2 J " ? 8 9 10 11 14 15 16 1'7 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 21 28 3. That the decision is not supported by the findings. 4~ That the findings are not supported by substantial evidence in tl'-.B light of the whole record. 5. Th&t evidence vas improperly incluaed at the hearing before the Zoning Administrator. Dated this 12th day ot November, 1993 l'ritz.noa 2 CV)I~.( c; Vlu,~tA- DONALD A. TEI;ENBAUM Attorney for Appellant f · .~ us' 7)-'[[P-22 3903 [1 Camino Real Use h~t 73-UP-2-2 is hereby issued to BHldotl, Inc.~ to .;!l!.ow the 8&le of alcoholic b~v~rages under on-sale license from the State of C8U,t'Clrnia at 3901 II Camino Real. Zone DiEtrict C-3-S. Paio Alto, Ca11£ornia~ subject to the following conditions: l~ Entertatnment eetivities or d~vices shall be l~ited to public dancing and card playing as permitted hy the Palo Alto Police Ch~ef, recorded music and electronic amusement devices. Other amusement activities. if proposed~ may be p~rmitted if approved in writing by the Palo Alto Zoning Administ:rator.- 2. Compliance w1th all applieable codes and orcinances including Titles 9 (FubUe. Pe.ace. Morals ancl Safety) 2nd 15 {Uniform Fire Code) of the Pal~ Alto ~i~ipal Code~ and Titles 4 (Alcoholic Beverage Control BuEinus R.e:gula.tions) and 19 (Publie Safety) of the Stace of California Administrative Code. 3. The sale of aleohollc beverag~s under this use permit shall be deemed an 8gr~e~ttt 00 the part of the applicant, the owner, their heirs, succes.ors and assigna to comply with all the terms a~d conditions of this llse permit~ ~.().~ ?:'~ ~ 0: .... Gu.r..-VILLE Zoning Administrator City of Palo Alto July 24~ 1973 This Dse Permir is zranted in accor~ance witb and subject to the provisions of CbapteT 18.90 of the City of Palo Alto MUnicipal Code, In lay case in -which thf! conditions to the granting of a use. Permit ha,\Ye not been or are not complied ~Lh, ~he Zoning Administrator shall give notiee to t.he pertnit.tee of intention to revoke such permit a't leut ten (10) days prior to a bearing tr.creon. FolloYing such hearing and if good cause exists there fore, the Zoning Administrator may revoke the Use Pe~it. A Use Permit which has not been used ~ithln one (1) year after the date of granting becomes void, although the Zoning Administ~8tor may, wit.hout a heaT ing, extend the time fe: &n additional year if an appl1~atiou to this effect is filed vith him before the expiration of the first year. ---, / - LA CUMBRE 3901 EL CAMINO RL AUGUST '92 TO AUGUST '93 CFS DISTUP,BANCE! LOUD MUSIC! MAKING NOISE! Lt..RGE GROUPS 06-24-93 06/09193 05127193 04129193 04126193 04!08I93 04!04193 04/02193 03120193 0311:1193 02118/93 01130193 01129/93 10123192 10120192 10/13192 10110192 10109/92 10107192 10/07192 lQI06I92 09128192 2326 2309 0154 0210 2323 0149 2341 0206 0028 0141 0154 0131 2352 0112 0049 2149 2359 0003 0115 0032 2316 0019 10 SUBJECTS LURKING IN THE LOT LOUD MUSIC LOUD SUBJECTS IN PARKlNG LOT LOUD GATHERJNG OF PEOPLE LOUD MUSIC VERBAL ARGUMENT IN FRONT OF BUSINESS LOUD MUSIC LOUD SUBJECTS IN THE REAR PARKING LOT ulSTURBANCE LOUD SHOUTING, SCREAMING AND MUSIC lARGE GROUP OF SUBJECTS LOUD MUSIC AND THROWING OF BEER BOTTLES OUTSIDE INTO LOT LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC LOUD MUSIC DISTURBANCE! FiGHTSI ASSAULT/ BATTERYI CAUSING TROUBLE oeJ28193 08114193 ;)8/03/93 08101193 07l291!l3 05109193 05109/93 05103193 05/02193 03114193 03111193 03/06193 03104193 02128193 OV14193 02107193 0229 0142 0143 0148 0149 0713 0136 0147 2315 0206 0155 0114 0308 2120 2236 -0013 TWO SUBJECTS IN ALTERCATION ALTERCATION IN FRONT OF BUSINESS ACTIVE FIGHT FIGHT IN PARKING LOT BATTERY BATTERY DISTURBANCE ARREST FOR ASSAULT VERBAL DISTURBJ>.NCE BETWEEN BAND AND BOUNCER ARREST FOR ASSAULT UNRULY SUBJECTS ARREST FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUBJECT WITH FACIAL INJURIES FROM FIGHT-NO REPORT WANTED ARREST FOR ASSAULT BATTERY VERBAL DISTURBANCE -----------------.-. \2/13."92 11130i92 11115192 11/14192 09127192 09120192 09112192 08130192 0130 . 0134 0137 2330 0157 0201 2104 2245 ASSAULT WITH BOTTLE SECURITY WITH DISTURBANCE SUSPECTS SECURITY THRaV LIQUID INTO FACE OF RP SUBJECT REFUSING TO LEAVE VERBAL ARGUME'NT BATTERY POSS I BlE SA TTERY VERBAL ARGUMENT DISTURBANCE AND ARRESTS INVOLVING AlCOHOUDRUGS 08123193 08123193 i 08112193 07131193 07129/93 06103193 05117193 05/09/93 05/09193 04110193 03101193 02126193 02106193 01/10193 11102192 10125/92 10111192 la/10m 0153 1750 0128 2332 2150 0146 0141 0151 0150 0109 0149 0416 2047 0131 0152 2357 0047 2247 MISCELlANEOUS 07105193 06126193 05109193 05113193 04105/93 03105193 03101193 02120193 12128192 11115192 l1Kl7/92 101271S2 09115192 09107192 08/19192 08114192 08102192 0121 0250 2332 0030 0005 0143 0148 2116 0100 2045 0218 1020 1138 0110 2315 0224 1628 ARREST FOR DRUNK DRNlNG ARREST FOR NARCCTICS ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC ARREST FOR DRUNK DRMNG ARREST FOR NARCOTICS -ARREST FOR NARCOTICS ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBliC ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC TWO r-I.ALES DRUNK AT THE BACK DOOR DRUNK MALE CREATING A DISTURBANCE ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBliC DRUNKS ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC ARREST FOR DRUNK IN PUBLIC MINORS ENTERING BUSINESS SUBJ SAYS HE WAS SHORT CHANGED THREE SUBJECTS "WAITING ON FEMALES" WARRANT ARREST THEFT OF WALLET CAR ALARM SOUNDING PETTY THEFT WARRANT ARREST FLAG DOWN BY SECURITY 911 WELFARE CHECK VANDALlSM TO VEHICLE ALARM SOUNDEDIBUILDING SECURE ALARM SOUNDED/BUILDING SECURE AlLARM SOUNDED AUTO BURGLARY REPORT OF SUBJECTS WITH GUt,S! SAN FRANCISCO OFFICERS ALARM SOUNDED ALARM SOUNDED '" Mr. Richard Sanchez La Cumbre 390 1 EI Ca mino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Oear Mr. Sanchez: Cit~ of J'alo jllto 1',0. lOX !~25a '-'LO ,t,l TO. (.:. "'Jill Portce Oepartment 4151'lZ9-2406 July 31, 1992 1-am writing to formally notify you of Cictivrties occurring at the business you manage which pose a health and safety hazard to your patrons, the corntnunPty and my police officers. Since the opening of -La Cumbre, • the necessity for ponce action on the business property h"s increased to disturbing and unacceptable levels. The frequency of fighting, drunkeMess, noise complaints, disorderly crowds and other crime has required police response on a regular basis. This is to say nothing of the additional pofice response r. quired to the neigM borhood area for situations stemmiflll directly from La Cumbfe. It is incumbent upon the management of La Cumbre to take what· ever lawful steps are necessary to operate an orderiy establishmet"lt. The City Planning Department will be reviewing the conditions of yOIJr business use permit and may be in contact with you to ensure that ail requirements therein are met. Please call me at your earliest convenience to arrange a time when we can discuss these concerns further. My phone number is 329-2232. Thank. you for your cooperation. TM/mm Sincerely, --;;~ jl/Jr--. CAPTAIN TOM MERSON Field Services Di"ision 'Ji:? of Tall) tllto ~ c ~o~ ';:!::'O Pl'_lo Alto Police Department 415\329-2406 August 28, 1992 Investiqator Lydia F. Engool DepartDent of Alcoholic Beverage Control 100 Paseo de San Antonio, suite 119 San Jose, CA 95113 Dear Investigator Enqdol~ Enclosed you will find copies of several cases r~lated to La C'ulalJre and/or the i.mmediata vicinity of the ni9"t.t club~ These cases date back over an approximate one year period. OUr calls for service at La Clmbre have steadily increased since the openlnq of this establishment and continue to be a drain on our resources. Please review the attached cases and calls for service printouts .for any violations that may constitute this niqht club as a -disorderly house.- Recently 1: met with the owners of La CUlabre and their attorney to inform them ot our department t 5 concerns. They seem to be very coopera~ive and willing to work with our suggestions and open to our rec01IDI!.endations tor alleviating some of the problems associated with their establishment. Also enelosed pleasa find a copy of the letter I sent to Hr. Richard Sanchez, the owner of La CUmbre, in which I expressed our concerns with his business. Within the next week I will be again meeting with the owners and their attorney to further discuss this situation. Pleas'! call me if I can he of any further assistance. My phone number is 415\329-2232. Sincerely, ~ / o,,~,/ i/, / .../" /'/ .,/};".,- CAPTAIN TOM MERSON Field services Division c:-:-,---___ -.... I I i • December 14, 1992 Donald A. Tenanbaum Attorney At La\,' 831 S. Winchester Boulevard San Jose, california 95128 Re~ La CUmDre Restaurant Dear Mr~ Tenanbau~: C~tyof Palo Alto Poiia Deparlmertl P:::ii:2Otief I understand that you represent La CUI:1hre: Restaurant in leqal matters. It is in that capacity that I a= requestinq your assistance in notifying the~ of pending action by Palo Alto Police Department regarding response to alarm calls. Enclosed is a le.tte-r that I have tried to have delive'red to Richard Sanchez J Manaqer~ at 3901 E1 Camino Re.al, Palo Alto, Ca. The let~er was sent November 16, 1992, via certified mail and has been returned as unclaimed. This letter notifies La 0~mbre of the pending non-response to their alarm calls due to an excessive number of false alarms over the past 12 month$. I spoke with Mr. sanchez on November 13 f 1992, discussea the situation with him and told him the letter would be mailed later in the week. On oecember 1, 1992, I spoke with the secretary, Lisondra Gonzal~s~ to discuss the situation with her. She told me the letter had not arrived and I said I would send another letter and ext~nd the action date. As of this writing I have not receiveo notice that tbe second letter was delivered. It appears that pe~sonnel at La ~re are avoiding receipt of this document. since you represent La CUmbre, I request tbat you notify Richard Sanchez that effective December 31, 1992, La cumbre will be placed on confirmation required status. He may refer to the enclosed Qocument fer further info~atio~. If you have any qu~sti~ns please feel free to con~act me at (415) 329-2130 Thursday or Friday bet~een 1 PM and 5 PM. sinperely, I .~{..c..--... /). ~ ,cI.-~1-- Sue Br~nson. Alarm Coord~nator Enclosure cc: ~ynne Johnson, Assistant Pclice Chief Dueane Willia~s~ Coordinator, support Services !l5ForetA~"enUe PaJo.~,CA. "J..U.""11 ·US 329.:.a; 415.~:sa5m December 14, 1992 Richard Sanchez La cumbre 3901 El camino Real Palo Alto. California Dear Hr. Sanchez:: Ci%f Palo Alto PaIia~ 94306 Pursuant ~_the provision of Palo Alto Municipal Code 4.39, the Privata Intrusion Ala~ Ordinance, you are hereby placed on confirmation ~equired atatus because your alarm system at La cumbre has activated ar. excessive number of fal~e alarms within the past twelve montbs~ A copy of P.A.M.C. 4.39 was sent to you on August 21, 1992. Palo Alto Police officers responded to false alarms at 3901 El camino Real on the following occasions: 1. January 26, 1992 ZIt 12:42 AM 2. June 7, .1992 at 9:25 AM 3. June 10, 1992 at 10:30 AM 4. June 20, 1992 at 12:22 PM 5. July 5, 1992 at ~2:4B PM 6. July 30, 1992 at 5:01 PM 7. August 2, 1992 at 4:28 PM: 8. August 14, 1992 a.t 2:24 AM 9. septe.:nber 15 1 1992 at 11:.38 AM 10. october 27, 199: at 10:20 AM 114 November 7, 1992 at 2:1S AM Beginning Thursday, December 3l, 1992, the Palo Alto Police Department will not respond to an Llarm call at the above location 6 If you wish to appeal this decision~ you must respond in writing to L~e Chief of Police within fifteen (lS) days of the date postmarked on this letter. Please state the grounds of your appeal ~nd/or the measures taken to eliminate the problems 275Rwei-Avmue PaIoAllo,CA94lJl 41S329.2406 4l5..329.!55~ Paqe 2 La CUmbre c~ntirmation Required Status causing the false alarms~ The Chief ot police or designee ~ill set a time and place for the hearing, should you appeal this decision. While the appeal is pending, the police will co~tinue to respond to alarm cails at La ~re, 3901 El Camino Real. It you have any questions please feel free to call me at .329-23.30 .. :CY'},~~ / Sue Branzor- Alarm Coordinator cc: Lynne Johnson, Assistant Police Chief Oueane Williams, Coordinator. Support services December 18, 1992 !lr ~ Richard SanChez La CUlobra 3901 El ca.ino Reol palo Alto, CA 94306 Dear Mr ~ Sllnche z : Cityof PaloA,ltQ Polia Dq;w tnrn! Sinee our August 13, 199:2 .eeting, our depart.ent bas been c.losely monitorinq the ca.ll~-for""service at your •• tabliaha.nta lte have observed an alanaill9 increasft in 4i.t~b.nce., fiqht&, assaults and drunk in public arrests. Ad4itional.ly, a rise in the nu..ber of drunk driving arre.st. o~ patrons leaving your nightclub has been noted not only by our departltent, but by the KOl,ll1tain View and Los Altos Police Departments • We have received reports that on occasion, La CWlbre staft bave re:tuse4 to telephone police when requested to-by patrons .. and at ti.es have attempted to dissuade peraona fro. reporting an incident when., perhaps, police contact would have been the appropriate action. A recent event 'Which illustrates this type of incident occurred on Deceoo.ber 13, lUl. While inside your est&blishaent, two patrons were hit by e thrown beer bottle. one ot the individuals was struck in tile h .... d and required -.dieal attaDtion. ' witnesses have reported to us tbit you retused to telephone police when requested to do so, and then atteapt9d. to persuade thea not to report the incid.ent. It is our understand.1nq thot a 1I."itnasl eventually telephoned for police and parazedic.. OCC\lrre.nces such as these are vary dist'l.lrbinq and would appear to be contrary to the spirit of cooperation expressed in our August meeting. , :'" . ·~,i3·f"?~~-<~; "" Gtyof Palo Alto PoIX>:Dq;w,,, .. u La C\labre Page 2 or 2 The inc:r.aee and. intensity of recer.t calls-tor-service at La CUJlbr. need.. to be i .. ediately address.d. Nu.eroua. r~tloJW 'Were made at our last aeetinq. We bope these were belp flU. .-- It you ahculd have any questions or cor..cern. regarding ~t events or wish ti) dllicuas potential .olu~lona, I am willing to ... t with you anc1 your staff at your request. You aay contact .. at (415) 329-2232. SiDcez:e,?£.lY • / {!JAIl ~/f~ --_ captain To. Merson Field Services Division TIllar cc:-Donald A. Tenanbaum Attorney at Law 831 South Winchester Boulevar~ San Jose, CA 95128 Lynne "_lohnson, .Assistant Police Chief DEPARTMENT OF AlCOHOUC BEVERAGE CONTROL san Jose District Office 100 Paseo de San Antonio, San 30s., CA 95113 (408l 277-1200 L I lUorZ., INC. 1. A Fox 3901 11 Caaino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Dear,'L!.c:en.seats) : Suite 119 t octotle.r 3 .. 1992 Reference: 47-234329 rt baa coae to the Departa~nt'l attention that patrons leavin9 your pre.ises at O~ about clos1nq time, are very intoxicated and. tend to loiter, f19ht and cauae d1sturbanCRs to the surroundlnq nei;hborhood. Said patronE are also c~eat1nq a preble. for tb~ Palo Alto Police Depart_ent, in that excessive .an hours and personnel are being used to respond to tbe f1gbtlnq, intoxicated patrons. noise co.plaints, disorderly crowds, and other iliscellaneous violations steam1nq direetly fro. your pI"eJli&e5. Businea. and Professions .Cod~ Section 24200 (e, and penal Code Section 373(4) prohibits this t~~e of activity. Hav1nq now been advised of the above problems and baving received cop1e. of the above referred to sections, be adv1se~ that continuance of the above activ1ty could result in a suspension or revocation of your alcobQlic ~everaqe ~lcen6e. You as licensees are under a cdDtinuinq duty to properly supervise your pre.is., and prevent such occurrences. cons1derinq all the facts in this matter we do not intend in this instance to file an accusatlon~ You are cautioned, however, that a subsequent v1oiatioD of this nature may .ubject your license to disciplinary proceedinos, leading to suspension of your license privU"q ••. ~15 lattar should be considered an official warDin~ ,notice r a copy of whi~ will be maintained in your permanent file. · . ' .. L'RITZ, INC. OctOber 13. 1992 Pall. 2 w. ask that you acknowledge receipt of this letter and iniora the dap&rtaent, in writing. of the .teps you have taken to prevent a reeurrence of the above violation. '"'' LOll file Headquarter.; Licensinq Chief of polle~ very truly yours, Ph111P C. Geffert District Administrator DEPAATMENT OF AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL San JOI. District Off lee fi ","r c;-/" . . 100 Paaoo 4. San Antonio, Suite 119 San JOle_ CA 95113 (4081 377-1200 Chri. DUrk1ll Chief of Police 275 Forest Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94306 -..... j .... ")1 --.' , ,f is 1:)3" "~II".,: ~ '_fJiU' 'V"I:" j ...... !"lIr =' October 9, 199'2 47-234329 LIRITZ, INC. L A Fox 3g0l El Camino Real ~~alo Alto l CA 94306 Reg". 91025649 , Dear Chief DUrkin: " . ~. 18 a notice of the Final order of the Departlent in the a~atU8t the above licensed premIses. aet10n Tbe Departlant baa accepted the licensee'. Offer in cosprOMia. 1ll the aaount of $1,500.00 in lieu of a 10 day IUlpension. Tbe Depart.ent'l acceptance of tbe fine will close the file in this utter. PCG:;!l Philip C. Geffert District Ada1ll1.trator Bv1a.nce retained 1n the above a.tter for purpose. of adaintltrativa hearinq 1s hereby relea.ed for appropriate dispos.l. OEPARTMENT OF ALCOHOUC P::VERAGE CONTROL 'Su ,Jos.e District Oifi .... e 100 Pas eo de San Antonio, suite 119 San Jo;e. CA 95113 1'08)' 277-1200 Dear L1eense.e ~ ... .~ ~ ~~;~?;~ RECEIVE":) ~~:G 2 1993 ~Ot,.1k, _ 0. ""'<.I July 29, 1993 Referenc~: 47-234329 Bl!twaan"Sept9ber 12; 1992 and June 3. 1993, Officers fro'll the Palo Alto Police ,Department "responded to twenty six t26} incidents that occurred on or about your licensed premiseE. ' As you are aware. this .. ounts to a violation of the law and of the Rule~ and Requlations,of the Department. You &5 licensee, are under a r.ontinu1nq duty to pro~erl~ supervise your premises and prevent such OCcurr&nCe8. The DepartJlant i's aware that you are attempt1n9 to work with the Palo Alto Police Departaent in alleviating these problems. Considering your cUrr@nt dialOgue with the Police .Department and your apparent efforts to o~i·ate-0110 orderly pram1ses,"we.do not intend to file 5n accusation at this t1ae. HOwever, we reserve'the right to ~rDCeed with the accusation 1f it .ppear~ your efforts to control you~ premises and ope~ate an orderly pre.iBes hav~ hiled. We ask that you acknowledge receipt of tb~letter and infor. thE nepart •• nt, in writing, of the steps you have taken to prevent a reeurrence of these violations. Th1. letter should be conSidered an official warninv notice, a copy of ,wh1cb will be maintained in your permanent file. co: LOW file. Headquarter6i·Licensing Chief of poliCe..,..-•• very truly yours, - Philip c. Geffe~t District Administratcr .. , ,== F~OM rEM MKTN5 SYSTEMS Barron Park Association Palo AI1c. CaIilOmia RECEIVED Sfp 151993 s .... ber 1~ 1993 Tho_PIII< ............... would ~ Ii) Ibook) .... fo<~_ ongoioa'-Ii) __ the .. 'I» ill _ ... Iivo. On September 12I!J. the Bo.troI -"'.m ~ II>fI4ioB -.en ~ or_ Pal: ancI the _ ........ FJ CamiM Roo!. O:zr~. ~_'" __ of«lr"""rir ___ -.. and .......... ~ W. aIso..-Ii) prcMcIo • for.Im to roiIe ..... ~ 1110 ~ noiae, PII>os<. p.uI;iIIa c 3 1" .' f r ~ ~ ~ wbh bull: : I opcratio,a I&r Ilpm. !ht ItYel ofiak:nlt _ ~ 1*"", 'm iI a dear ~ that "''« .. 1:1!! ~ ~:-..=:. Ovtrliflypooplo -.loci and par.; if U in the -. Ton pcopk lz>Ii<aIc4. ~ ID ... ~to_OD_""P __ uClmlln, 1d .... 1lIo-1Jali.1IId r""'lIdI __ lIIdIor .... _ .. ....-1ho ......... AD o{the .... WWlIIIi ... ~ __ in--.. .... _1IId ........ .-. Mm I .! _ t.. CoozIn md latk.Jo.Thoo!Iox ~ __ Ihoir ~"' __ .. in ...... toliod_lCthe __ I.o_orthe ____ .. lho_otlho ....... md..,......,orlhoot-._ ... -.. ..... dDo &11-. _ -. SpooiIllbdI Ii) 1110 Palo Alto Police ~ m.-_-"" .. 'mn," PII"i:ir =h: 1olm1lciD, -or .... __ .. -PIIk; wiIl_th • .-orlho C .")0D4 __ ~ Thoir __ ... __ cffo<liw paLA>hipo -""1110 &.roo Pili< .~. ' ..... Iooal-. and cny.....-.. io III e1IOrt 10 _1bt ___ "" the followios _, Ltqtr .......... _4 linlltil "'" 'n • _ on 1110 impnMog the 'iIoIi!y lI1<I qulity ofb_ Ilona EI Caamo Real _~ __ ··._ ... ____ 0Dd~"'._ ~. Owr 1110 ""'" few doy>, 101m wiI be «IIIIacIine .... -... to -.... 1110 ..... _ PIoaoliod m.. Ie c.-lolmforfor1horlofi ....., _oflho _ ....... or """"'"""Ie )'OUr ImiIiDa: Iobel. smc.reIy. John Benz. Mcmbc:t Bm-oa. P.n: ~on 415-493·,1.074 ~'''''.--- .... EF 15 'S3 15:50 Isouts and a-.ms Idmti1ied II s.ptember Ilt-" BPA lIfeeling • GtacraJ Commanlty w-1Uprd'"" a.w, ..... OIl ~CR • Need _ 'pormmIIip' .......,.. th< ~. and:x..incss • Nood ...... to _ 4c<iAGn molten • nolllelep!ea or ",",lic ",Iobon. oomp;tr.i<a ._ =-0IId .... ..0.. -.nI .. ='r~.Joo&ECR • 0.". parapbema!io fOllOd on """'" ofECR ond V"""",., _ .. on Mililaty Wzy • Goztrnl ..... 0(,_ '""" ECR ·C~ • too _ """'I • Fat food _ &11 aIaos EO. MiIitozy WI)'. oed Baaco Aw • EI!'or1J to clem _ .... 1imiIocI1o iDdMIluaI __ propcn;.. • AI "'" Emie's Uquor ""'" do not _ "", ..... Iizod san:... dumjmm • Empty lots .,.,lilIOd __ • i6enIify __ of ompt)Ilots "'" _ M II:oy duo Ihom pcriodi<&IIy ·N .... • \'loibIoIllllIlOiblo"",,-in ....... md~......u..G _~houn of opmttioD 111100 IleII """ IIok-io-Tho-ao. • _....... .. • '11) ~ .. 2I3am. ,.nioUIIrIy on 11>0_. • _, ....... iltllOd IRIIIII4r.. Cuntl>tc, T_ Boll, lad JooI<-lR-n./laz • What 1.0 CamIxo.-. IIWI)' oftloeir ~ cod II!''' 1110 !loot food, _ • CMnIl .... """"0 bcq ..-em ECR. 1I_1"Ocl • GnIIiIi • ~ ""'" ,Coble _ in pftIti _1110 ~ 0(1110 y<:IIt · • ClootoaI per,,; ti 1bot _fuo<t bq __ !IDs !ODd of 'I<ti' .... _. , Bft>IooD GI.- ·-ltcobzila. on oidowaIb, _ -. ID4puKc ~_ pr.u bicycle, --. ""'~ IIazonII • MIlly _ 0(Il10 &cr-"""" "" dritJIcirq: ill pubic 1114 -d8ii _ 00 11>0_ • h!1cit>a OIl -.... • Vmdaliom lad _ ba in=osod ~ ..... 1110 Iortyoar 10)'001' and ... hal! • r.. c-bro Il1o • -1IY that ...... dirc<1Iy on '" • ..,;dmtia! ....... • """"'" ill dnti ..... and _IS";~ I.y dn!s ",_1M< Ilooombor. • ~ __ ... -... ......... mol o<!t<r poopk lUI do!l:iJtp ~_ t zesi4mli11llf1i1bb If .d .. , " '. -~- -<., /-/, .... Issua mel Concern. Idenli1\ed al Seplember 12111 BPA ~Iming • La 0Jmbre palrons n loiIering on Vam:ra · u Cumbre pIIrODIi ore -liDi in pubJi<; • La c..mbn patram Itt "!>miIina 0<1 ~ and in b1Wi<s -Lo Cumbre pi"""' .... ~ _ ........ ith Ibrir porIOoa -Lo Cumbre Iw a _OdI>ilitY 10 pro,ide ade1r ..... and oar. pcI;ing -a-.l bckftllllM<uriIy io m.dcq1l&lC -Liah <II' DO IOCIJri%y is pn»ided alIer closins ...... -LacI<of_ i ...... __ oflbo cloy 10 day_ afl"tdinaboooincoolcommomily -AI! AmwioaIo porI;ioc loIlw .... l*\<C41hm at all I>oon oel!!< day~ -AI! ....-.-parki!oa Ie! has become • hoi """ for probIomf _ La Cuml>re cloo<o · v_ dOl B • of~in .... of La Clombroeomirlenlwilb lbeprolilc ofaq doaI • '!'he III<ioriIY of La Cmohro _ .... ot Palo AlI.,..;.r ..... iii<! IIier<:C<ft lin!< or DO _ for ibo; c""'lii'iDi1y -c-omII7 _ R9rd1lll T_ BdZ aDd Jock-III-1be-Bos -!loon ofOpemico -T_BoIIia..,..,24-..day -loo1t.JD.1be-llox iI ..,..,11 hours • day --La ~ ia "'"" -!o;aI15me limit for Iiqoocr aaIo& (2:00am or 2:3O.Im) -T_BoIhas_.~_~l4bropm&ion • Taco _ he _ policy ..... in IoiIorinc iii<! hoon&Do& 01l! doobo!i!a .. I>oon .1'W<:OMd m..-_......, cIrva deolt, aoioe, l1l<I ofooonIoo!y _ obina Iato boon • tJaoooimoao! ..,_1l1li all __ DIlECR _ 0:lo0o before ~ • ~ _Iba! 24 hour cpcnIioo ;, iooeompaIibIo wiIb • _ '"""""""Y .~ ~~:z:..u.u 0nfI .... "" &ail U .. Pmn!too • NoooI to dowIop ........ wodO!oa rd" '.j _Ibe dIy "'""""" ..... _ -o-.!~for ...... __ ... ~_"",*,& ... f .. -_ u.. __ iii<! qu.ljfjc ...... rar ECR t.-.. -UtcP<rmi!o_ In _ ,eq"'_for~_ • WboI ... 1be ....... Q"""'" rar. Conditioml u.. Panni! to be ~ -WboI ... !be requitommIt 10 ........ 24M U .. Pormit'I • What i!!be m".4_/0jlpi0Y0I_ for.......q ......... Uto PImoit? ~* TOrGL PAGE.804 ** • -. . August 9, 1993 Manage.r/OWner La CUmbre ;3 9 03 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Dear Manaqer/~~ar: City of Palo Alto Deputm. =I o{PImtnjngand Cammur'..ty tm>ironnlerll It has ~een brought to our attention that live music is beinq performed at La cumbre. Our records show that Use Permit '73- uP-22 does not permit live music. Enclosed is a copy of the use permit ~or your information and review. You are hereby requested to terminate any live music at your establishment immediately. 'I'hank you for your cooperation. Please call me at 329-2276 if you have any questions. S~;;:/y~ RICHARD X. CABRERA Code Enforcement Officer RXC:jb cc: Christ RodebL~r, supervisor, Building Inspection Lynne Johnson. Assistant Police Chief Captain Tom H~rson Officer Mark Venable Sqt. Robert Brennan ~Nancy Lytle, Chief Planning Official Joe Colonna, Planner 250HmUltmA1ICI'I:E PD.b;.([5J NoAllo.CA9ml 4l5.329 . .2456 <15.329."""'" /' Co.4TS CONSULTING {(Ina plonnhlg. t'm-jrOl;mema! {"()/lsrr!(ill,~ d~'l'efopmr:nl pl"(XeJllng DeCember 17, 1995 Nancy Maadox Lytle Chief Planning Official P.O.BOX 10250 Palo AltO, CA 9430S SUBJECT: USE PERMIT 7:S-UP-22 FOR 3901 EL CAMINO REAL Dear MS. L ytJe; our finn has been retained to assist the owners Of the above reFereneecl establishment In ttlelr efForts to cOmply with the City's permit requlremellts and other appropriate reoulatlons. we have met with the owners on two occasions and toured the neighborhood. Our initial task was to prepare a list Of reconvnendatlons to the owners that would begin to bring the operation Of the dUb Into confonnance with the use permit conditions. The fOllowing list reflect our recommendations along with actIons ana Improvements by the owners. I think that you will agree that the measures listed will go along way toward eliminating this use as a nuisance. 1. The CAib Is unaer new management with a new apProach. The music 15 changing In January 1994 to tropical jazz. This will slCrnlflcantty change the type Of dlentele. 2. A fUll time manager Is now on site. This person will open the lines Of communication to ttle ania reSidents and wDl respond to any concems. S. MOst Of the doors, windows and walls have been l/I$\Iiated fOr sound. 4. Six Of the eight spaaters were eliminated and the SOUnd bOard has been located away from the stage. This allows 9(}57 Soqu~1 D,-jl-r Build/"g C Apw.! CA 95003 • 408.685.0555 ~ FAX 4Ofj. 685.2300 Ofjicrl ;,,: Aptll1 .. Carmd .. Tra(\' ' .. "'cd ..... , the house to manage the music r.rther then the musicians. S. unifOrmed securtty guards have been hired fOr Inside and outside Of dub. A marked security car patrols the neighborhood. I. A cover charge and dress code has been employed to reduce the number Of patrons and In an attempt to Improve the type Of dlentele. 7. The size Of the cocktail glass was reduced and the priCes ralsed to curtail the amount of alcohol consumption. 8. The Club Is now closed Monday and TUesday so that the Impacts to the area are reduced. 9. The Club closes at 1:30 am. 10. Parklng plan and parking agreements are being prepared. 11. Additional exterior lights are being Installed. 12. Additional signs regulating parting are being Installed on the site and In the nelghborhood. The security personnel are required to direct parklno away from tile neighborhood. 1 S. Club personnel are going Into the neighbOrhood to police and dean up litter on II nlgMly basis.. 14. Bartenders are being tralnecl to recognize and deal with intoxicated patrons. 1 S. The ClUb ,will Close on CltrIstmas EYe 11. The ClUb'S exterior will be painted soon. 17. The parking lot will be landScaped and re-strlped and existing planter bOxes will be replanted. 18. The Club will close fOr remOCfel1ng In January. When the Club reopens, It will feature tropical music and thUs a different dlentele. 1h anticipate that the above list of measures will greatly reduce the ., Impacts Of the club. Ttle Change In music should greatlY rlHluce the number Of patrons as well as the type Of Clientele. This will In tum raClUce most Of the problems. we Intend to meet with the neighbors after the holidays to hear their concerns. Additional measures may occur as a result Of that meeting. It Is the Intent Of the Club to be a gOOd neighbor and to contribute to the well being Of the City. I wauldllke to meet with you and your staff to hear your concems and to discuss the upcommg Planning COmmission hearing. I wIU c:aII you next week to • f anoe a time. Please direct all correspondence to our Office and dO not hesitate to catl us If you have any questions. RespectfullY IuDmltted Geary T. Coats ~nc~ rt:r -h, ..... lu.t..O-.(.>(J "" ··JImWeaver ProJect Manager Co JOe COlonna, Planner sue case, senior AS,1stant City Attorney capt. Tom Merson RICh cabera, Ordinance compliance Inspector Donalcl Tennenbaum DtH:embel' 17, 1993 Dear Neighbor; ~'",~ .. ~,,~, ,.!". ~-' • This Is to inform you that the La CUIl1i;;re Club Ii now Ul'ider new management. AIonv with this ~e, management Is plannlna on changing the type Of music and refUrtJIshlng the Club dUring the nnHlth Of January 1994. These effOrts are In O'eSPllHlse to amcems ralsecl by our neighbors and City OffIcials. Initially we are Improvlna the appearance Of the Club and Changing ttoe method Of operation. These Changes wDl result In a new type Of dlentele. we would like to meet with the neighborhood shOrtly aftet' the first Of the year to hear your concerns and to outline our planned Improvemellts. In the mean time we wDl be dosed on Christmas EYe ane! ttoen dUrIng part Of JanUary while work Is OCQIrring. on betlaH Of the cto.m, we willi you a Joyous Chrlsbn85 season and look fOrWard to seeing you In JanLlarY. If you have any QUHtions or need our assist:lnce, pleaSe dO not hesitate to :all INdy at the ClUb, 1856- 28151. THANK yOU w--owner ~.:-"~--- -" TENENBAUM. CROWLEY & REGAI'o ClO ....... C "". 1't ... E .... """ .. -'0 ..... "E""" C:~W"E" ~ ... o"t ... 'e .. A~ ... :C ...... II:~ Q ... EG ..... A$ $0<:: , ....... '0'" .. ....... "OSE. -:: ...... '1'"0"'"' ...... g~'i'6 1408: <:4 ... ·4777 Captain Tom Merson City of Palo Alto police 275 Forest Avenue Palo Alto, CA 9430~ Rea L'Ritz, Inc. Dba LaCUmbre 3~Ol £1 camino Rea~ palo Alto, CA Dear captain Merson.: January 6, 1993 Depa rtm.ent --~ . .. ..:.7' Followinq our meetinq on August 13, 1992 ~ client impleaentad all of your BuqqeBtio~~. It bad no further notice ot 4ny alleged problems until it received your letters dated uecamber 18 and 30, 1992. My client states that it has taken every precaution to operate its premisRS in an orderly manner ana not to create any law enforcement problems. Tbe management ot La CUJIlbre has taken the follovinq steps to rectify any recent problems that you have ~rouqht to th~ir attention: 1. Tbey will be postinq two security quaras in the front of the facility in order to direct patrons to the crosswalk and prevent them. from jaywalking. 2~ Tbey are traininq ~n£ir doormen to ob~erve and refuse entry to any intoxicated people. 3. Thay ara atopping in and out privileges in order to aaintain a closer ovarv1ew of their patrons. 4. They are arranging a training sossicn with the Department of Alcoholic Beveraqe Control for all bartenders to recoqnize those patrons that are into~icated in order to prevent sales to them. 5. They have increased their drink priceg in order to curb the e~nsumption ot alcohol. Comp6red to all other nightclubs and bars located on El Camino Real, they have the highest pric~s. My client hopes that these are viable solutions to the concerns and alleqed problems that have arisen. It is not the policy ot La CUabre management to sell alcohol to intoxicated people. They remain open to anr ot.he.r suqqestions that you may have in order to ccmply with your requasts. DAT~cc cc, Department of ABC Attn: Philip Geffert ce: Client Very truly yours, Maaager La Cumbre 3901 EI camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306 Dear Sir: -.. -. BARRON PARK ASSOCIATION PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA ........ : July 31. 1993 The _ Pari< AssOciatioo BoanI would like to invite you to atIeIld • meeting to be beld at !be Creelcside Irm, II MaIadero aDd EI CamiDo, 5th tloor peuthowe .. .rite, on Stmdty, ScfJtember 12th, from 4:00 to 6:00pm. The meetiog will allow you to !tear bow the f'I'SicIr:nffl aDd ocher businesses in !be area feel about !be _ businesses in !be oeigbborllood being opeae<! after II :OOpm in !be evening. As a Boord, we have received IIIIDY pboae calls from concerned residence about activities at your eslablishmcnt whick do DC( fit weU willi • ,-eSidmtiaJ cummunily. There bas been an iDcreose ill graffiti, gang activity aDd burglaries wbich seem III coiDci& with In increase in activities at your places of business after 1l:OOpm. We are now having regular me<tings with !be City PIanoing Department staff aDd !be Palo Alto PoJice clt:jiiutwent III addrc:s5 Ibis IB1ICC<:pI3ble _. We fed it is important to begin openiDg lines of communication ~...", !be neighbomood aDd your trusin<ss to beIp address these problems tugeIbu. PI .... join us on this dale and bear !be oeigbborilood c:oocems firsI band. P\ease RSVP this leUer aDd if yoo should have any questions, please feel free to call me at any time. 415-494-#)22 ce: N .... -y Lytle. Senio< Planner, Palo AIIO Planning Department Captain Tom M""""" Palo Alto Police Department I / /' Oc~ 20.19'33 11'25I=J'l FRO;"'P Le9" I At.'tom!ltIClo' Ntooct !.)'Il. Chief P~I Otr-lCW Oty of Palo Alto BARRON PARK ASSOCIATION PALO ALTO, CA"FORNlA p.el RECEIVED OCT 20 /SS3 Ocwber 2<l, 199J The:BOlltd Drllbo ~ Puk A.uocilltio.l. bm ~cwud 'yOW" kuct to t... CYDmn rnanarlD!OVt rC'prllin& l.~ o..~ 21st beatiDz n:prdiIIj Ihtir Ule. Pmnif m,uP·12. II is !.be: lOlI.ai1MWl opiniotl (Iof dili Board thar La C\tm'bre ill • 'bu$inc:u dULl ill Be:i&llet ~mpaI.I'bliC' DO!' ~ kl the IUtrOWldil!& r&i~ti&l comm\Ulity. Duriq:" cat '/eM,period ~ AUj'.i!it J9il2 to ScpIemhu 1993. o..e Palo Alto .ftolie.e ~ I'CCOft!a reflect a lobi 0' ~bw ad1. for ,.,.."ic. !D d.. t... Cum'h,. add,.... Thirty.two .......-.1 or thaooo o.n. '"""f1'$ ~ fi.hlLa,-, -..It, or Dabay. Twcaty~ peroeGl or the an. wmI rdatcd: to Litt. ~ of &1.:0b01 udlor ~nlP, TweMy.fix pt:I"'~1 of Cb can, ~ ~ 10 JtOia otdUWlc:a Of the ,al:bcrin, or J.vwe rruuJltl aD E! CamiDo Jl~1. Io .dd"lliua tu dl!l ear .. ~ to La ~ lbcn! wert u .,dddinnal one-IIU&lted and 1ICvu:ly-Qlnc: caIb ftPOI'lad witbM fLVe 1I1/1Ddnxl '-" 01 .. La CIuDIn property. W. bdicr ... e Chat many of tbe«e ctns weft .moci.~ '.vi.rh t.. Cwub,. ~. QI ScpUmIM 12Ih of this,..., _. of _ Put "'" ";!b II>e owner of IA (In.me. AI aw Cin>c. Hany (PreDIMra.O dai...t 1M!: Ibis wu !he firM time IhIl he. hItd beca i..crDnrll:ld or dw pruhleml .-x::Wad: with N Diehl dub. He pWpd k) tat. ~ COI'nICt.!'IIe ectitm. 5ullileqlwuly, • B&rI'tlcI P&r1I: ~iilioa a:mbc:z' IDIIt wilb 1M La CuJrln II!ICUrity ~ In teVlCW the: i!Sl8Uell and. cudiM the oe;,abl:lodtood C"JIICenU. To eIIt •• ha b.u ant receive:.! lIWIy rouow up MiM'inn ~, the IoUWI ur ~r :r:;~ riTartII. SiDce out 8epte:tIIha !2lh ~I with Harry. Ihe Pat'" AlIO rto1K:e report i"ndic:a.lel IhM Ihetc han bcm IDOIO lhan ten ~ .fUr ~ -.. n:aa1dIIY.lvvap d,-.c CA..-lI the: pl'lCla' l~"'" mouth.l.~ O\.IrinJ nw. I.Imc., La C'lImbl'e m&BllJe1llOllo1 wu. awu. eft_ Cl!:n!lnllJniIY ~ loS "Wet! u ~ p!ftdinl Marin, OII~. pnMi'hle. revocatjl)4 eflbeit Ute Permit. II is difficul[ 10 i1Dlpae wha.I: addiliond WiDb the City Planninr Dq.rtm.m ~!.d appl,-• sho«1 of permit revOCliltiOCl -befM: ~ 1/aIIOUld: tab acT:Loc. We br.fiC'le. thai 1M. oomftlUlloit1 i.ft£lulW the Cjll'~:Ij ,pI!rmil nlVu.w f'oToCe:IiS Mnuld bye beea lUffu:ic::llt ~ 10 ~Iyc these .ICt'iowI ~. <Ciivm die above cnmbiaalioa. of ~l.!i aad the 1ICri~ of !be problems. IhI:. Bu.rd of tbc &noa Part AaocW:lon bt.lieYa thII c:oaam.d 0J!'0tIli0li of this bwlncss ~ • cltv and p;ac:nt dIIIl« 10 toc:aI ft:Il.hu aM La C'u.mbR. ~ .. I>\Uina: Ibe pu;t week. mot'e than ~.nUfldn!d feJi;idnlls uf Bamm Park anc..! Venm. ... Avenue b,tve ~.'DCd • preflilN:m NqLllMtiq thu !A C'umbrc: be dose..!. Tit6 Boanllfrungly ra.:ommt:zuh erll) ~ thallh. Ci.r:y PlanrlinJ:: ~ UBmIIdi.telJ N\lo'k, th. La Cu.m'ftrot. U ... 'Pffmfl. =.: hie Alto City Coun.ciJ RECEIVED OCT 20 1393 Mr. Joe Colonna C~At:T'-.'?,'";'"C',,:pLt!r.·mG City of Palo Alto ":"'Cl: .. :." ... 7:~z·.ao'"",," 250 Hamilton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 RE: WLEI ('.Amino Real (73·UP·22) Dear Mr. Colono.: Sian Bordagaray 398 Ventura A\e. Palo Alia, CA 94306 1 bave beeu advised that tbe permit for La Cumbre is being considered. As manager of the apartment complex on Ventura Ave. (1382, 384, 386, 388, 392, 394, 396. 398). 1 must request that this penni< be revoked uoequivocably. The ,iruation bas become intolerable and potentially dangerous. Tbe clients of lb. aforementioned ·c1ub" bave constantly caused problems on cur property. They park in reserved areas, removing ,,"y possibility for our tenants 10 park in their accu.olomed OIl-site parking places. This bas regululy caused frustration and b •• even posed a threat to several of our tenants. On a few occasions, the club customers W","" quite belligerent and verbally offensive when asked to move their cars. Also, this put summer we bad two cars broken into and items stolen on a Friday nigbt by clients of La Cumbre Q! by iodi vidual. using all Ibe traffic CD Veutura Ave. as a cover for their ·work.· This occurred on C1JC property and was appropriately reported to Ibe Palo Alto Police Department. Please revoke Ibis Conditional Use Permit and make our street safe again for the people wbo live there. Thank you for your consideratioD. Sincerely, ~'l5~~~ Mr. Stan Bordagaray, Manager Nancy Lytle Zoning ,\dministrator City or Palo Alto P.O. Bo. 10250 Palo Alto, CA 94303 Subject: Use Perm~ !of La Cumbre DElar Nancy: 3S46 Magnolia Drive Palo A~o, CA 94305 October 18, 1993 RECEIVED C~i Z 0 1933 D::=n:r"::i;j ';P.JI<~'~~''G J.:::JCI:.:'::.:..;:.1TVC~~T I am wri1ing 10 urge you 10 revoke or significantly restrict Ihe use permit fC>l' La Cumbre, Although t .. s site has been occupied by a night club/restaurant for many years, its suocess in atlractirIQ lalgela!&-night crowds in reoent years has been accompanied by a general decline in nearibY residents' sense of safely on and near EI Camino Real. Not only does !he Ventura n&ighbomOOd (which is closesl) have 10 suffer from the la!a nil/ht noise, rowdy patrons and illegal activities associated with La Cu mbre, !ha nightclub has hed a general blightirIQ infiuence on the section of EI Cami~o Raal be_n Ba.'Ttln Avenue and Los Roblas, La Cumbre can' take the blame for everything, but ~s Ia!&-nig!lt hours and the availability of aicohol seem to be closely associated with the increase in trash, litter and police cans 10 the two nearby liquor stores and Taoo Ben. This seelion of EI Camino Real is a pall of my neighborihOOd, If we truly wan! 10 create or reinforoe the concepl of ·urt>a., villages· in Palo Alto, nearby ",sidents should feel lX)mfottab/e using their commerciai areas in the evening as wen as the daytime. Use. ike La Cumbre take away that sense of safaty and wen-being. . i ' . • iitj;2}~ We the undersigned, re:iicitnls living near La Cumbre nj~t.tcluh, have bl!com(' incr~asingly co~med by mstlll"b.a:oce.s caused by Jts pat-t\:iru;. \Ve :Xli~""": that La C~rii.bri'" vptrali::S 1r. a manner which is detrimental to our bealth, safety and welfare. lb.is bu~iDe.$s is incompatible with a residential community. The disrurbances caused by La Cumbre and its parrons have includw: • Violent behavlor. street brawls • Drunk and disorded)' conduct • Excessive noise • Pubnc urination and vornjtjng • Broken giass and linering on neishbomood side-walks We be!iev.e this situation is no longer tolerable and we recomm~nd to the City of P.<.1o Alto that La. Cumbre's conditiooaJ use permit 8:73-UP-22 be revoked. """= la' ), id 1'< -#'l/tc"''''--------...... """" 3M 1/:;;:.",Jt7:<.f'KJ #/;) , .... . . ,: I We the undersigned, reltidents tivjn,g near La Cumbre nigbldub, hav~ ~coml! incrcasln,£ly concerned by disturbances caused" by lts patrons. -"Ve be1.i~vc t!::;,;,:;,t La C:"<ii'lbr-;; c.po-~ratel; in.a manner whi-ch is 'detrim.ental to our he.;>Jth, safety and ~.'clf~. Tnis business is incompatible with a l'esjdential community. The distu.zblwces caJlsed by La Cumbre ar~d its patrons have included: , Violent behavior, street bra\\'ls • Dru.nk and djsord~rly COneuCl • Exce&s:ive noise • Public urination and vomiting Broken gla..;s and littering O!l neighborhood sidewa.lks We believe this~ is no lonser :olerabJe and we re~omm~nd to the Gty of Palo Alto that La Cumbre's conditio use pennii': #73·UP-22 be revoked. I'] ?3f0 j/tdd p #1 3rt? ~ , A""'" $n lPc{um tho.? -hI Addi.uo. Vllll"."1 11,,(/ #/1 __ _ A.-.. 3'-10 lie rl t,.,-" £V-l. it ~ .-: We the undersigned, res:idenls livjng uear La Cumbre nishtdub. have b",com,,' increasingly concerned by disturbances c.t'.J.sed-by its. patror;s. Vole toencvt! that La-C'u.m~r.:: uperat'!~ in.a :DlaIUlC'r Which is deirimental to our health. &afety and ~"dfare. 1hl., business. js incompahble wi til .a Iesldectial communiry. 'The disturbances caused by La Cumbre and jts pal rom bave included: • V:01ent beMvior, street brawls • Druck and disorderly (:pnducc • Exces,...;ve noise • Publlc urination and vomitins Broken glass and litterin,g OD neighbochood sidewalks We believe thjs siUJation is no longe-l' tolerable and we recomm{',nd to the City of Pilla Alto thaI La Cumbre's conditional use pemrit -#73-UP·22 be revoked. tJ. ~:-L_'l~11yI.,"C'... C~ ,-. -'- ,p/J ~&Jk~:e.~ __ , ..... .u f i& ;-. a...,., J .-.;(., . ,:,r(---;'-~ ':-. :,~(Jf~:~,;:r~'f~c.-~.;-··- .~"/-_':~?':?,_",·~f~_'~:_~>_l ..... ...; ..... ...;.._,;::c;" We the underngne-d, resi.de:tts livins: n~ar La Cumbre nightclub. ha,,~ b~come increu.singly concerned by disturbances caused-by its patrons, \Ve beli..::ve-:h.:il La C:...:rnbr.: opera!\:" jTl a manner which is delrimelltal to our health, safety ~nd weJ.f<u~. IPj~ busintss is jncompatibj~ 'Wi~ a residential (ommunity. The dIstwbances c.!USC'<J by La Cumbre and its pa:.ron.s ha'.'e included: • Violent behavior, street brawls • Drunk and cfisordedy conduct • Excessive noise • PUblicQrinationandvontiting • Broket:::. glass and linering on neiehbomoocl sidewall.':s: ,- We the undersigned. residents living near La Cumbre ruSlltdub. b<!v~ h-cc:nmt" in..::rt'ilsingiy coocerned by distutbances CBllS(' . .dby jts patrons.-\Vc b<b~'i(e lb..it La Cumbre operate.; in.a n;anoer wmch is detrimental. to our health. safeoty and wetJ"'are. 1b:i s bu siness is locompatibi(' with a residential community. The disturbances caused by La Cumbre and its patrons hav~ included: • Vlolent behl".vjor, st~: brawls Drunk aroe disordedy cooo.J.ct • Excessive noise • Public urination and vomiting • Broken glass and littering cn neighborhood sidt'walk.s We believe this sit>JatiOD js no longer tOlerable and ..... e recomm~nd to the City of Palo Alto tl:.at La Cumbre's conditional use permit #73-UP-22 be revoked ~ ","'" fl4$*.4 4' 0' ( ;,{, -'-Tic. <' r1-j!J //. p;:J '-_1 '- VJ..1Ut??Jc .. ' r{i rf a 1Wlyo.l) _..(0 ( A.00n:~ " r ~ . ~~/' Y. .~ ! ! " £'11",...... { ~ ,_ ~G4 . , ...... '10/ Ve.nfurQ he 2cd.. ,-L;;/6ee c....,.~ A""'" 1 ~-&1~! ('" c4<2.C:. 'M A .... ~ yeaJtlyg cf !?-fL.- A"'= 3)0 Wn:hxm.. 3=\= \3 5· A 7'~3 11;& £4~rd A.:i<h~ It; J VtwfWu; rib-!'. , -# (I., JJJ -./', ./ " "/ ----'~". We the undersigned, residents living near La Cumbre ni,E!hcclub, hav€' De<.-ome increa~jng!y concerned by disturbances caused by it; patrons. We ~lh:'!'{e'th.at La Cumbre cpetates in a maIDer wbich is detrimeiU.allo our health, safety and welfart:>. Thls business IS jnwmpatible with: a residential community. The disturbances caused b>" La Cumbre and its patrons have incl'Jd~d: • Violent beba:vlOf, street brawls • Drunk and di~rderly conduct , E1icess1ve noise • Public urination and vcmiting • Broken glass and littering on neigbbotbood sidcwalb; We believe Illis situgion is 00 longer tolerable and we recommend to the City of Palo Alto that La Cumbre's conditional tiS(' pemtit #73"UF·22 be revoked. )(' ccbiH ~igann ~ cd-ron en .. ~ ,." , """'" ~3 ,1&1<, <w--{j oH---M I u .-*~ {2H"twg 6Ii?: :1£ .""'" tle,,1uh live· *_,_ ! I _ .,..... -..lIt \J'<...n 1i I Y'.;R AU2 -I'f-f "-~"---- • , , , We the undersigned. resid~nts living near La Cumbr~ nigh1duo.l1ave lx'1.:('rn~ incrt:'asingly concerned by disturbances caused by it;; pat10ns. Wi: t.eL3t-v~ th:...t L .. C ... ii.brt' u~r;:;I",. in.5. manner which is detrimenUil to our health, safe-ty and \\'elfare, Thj So bu~inl:!'~5 is ~ncumpatible with a resjdentia! commuruty_ The diiturban~s C3Used by La Cumbre and ib patrons bave incluckd: VloIecl behavior, street brawls • Drunk and disorderly conduct • E",cessive noise • Public urination and vonutin8 • Brokec glass and littering 00 neighborhood sldewalks We believt'. this situation is DO longer tolerable and we n::commend to the City of Palo Alto that La Cumbre's oonditiona] use permit #73-UP·22 ~ revoked. ~~ .~ i:tilt:.~~ ,- p.V·4~ ~~ __ _ )./tLw C~~;(:(V ",190 ~~...A....r=~«,---~#~~:::::~ A,""'" ...::::3'-'-'{O=-----'L.V~ #-3_ .-v~k~R :1LD~_V-§1 tire! .It ve ::{I.1. 2% VCI1b.).::;: # 4-...... . "'-sl/C VOOw:-V-~.;21 A_ 7 71 £,w"';"" {}CJ. ~.l. . ((. , . " , .'~.> ,~-:::/y , ;. ;: ' ',';'h -. >', ~.-.: __ --L-::..-___ _ We the u.ndersigned, re.iidents living ne.ar lJ, Cumbrt rtis:bldub, MVt' bt:come increasin£ly conc:med by disturbances cause<:" by its p.alOOtU. W,;: bel;~\lt illdt La Cambre operates in-a manner which is detrimental to our bealth, ut~ty.and ... df~. This business is inccmpatibIe with a residential community. The distu~ caused by La CumbIe and its potIOns ha", included: Violent behavior. street bntwls • Drunk and disotderly cond1lct Exc:essj ve BOise e Public urination and vomiting Broken glass and littering on neighbo<bood sidewalb We believe this sl.watic.n is no longer tolerable and we ~CQn.\mend !ll [be Cjl)' of Palo Alto th.lt La Cumbte's conditional use pennit tt73-UP-22 be r(,voted 9'"~ ¥ .13" Q~ '-}j(~i.. UuL"j'-'-',< ~ ... ~ 4-'3 Y L-J~ .. ~ c\=< I ~ +-C-.... ---vC=r V de-r ~ ., '3/5 A44r~ .. ~~\ltrJ...,.., (ni r\ AM..:OS -43 'ii ~--:JJq A.1dN-"" 34D \1 ~ Ciu...~(1 A ..... /:./< »ZM~4<4t d:;,.... " We the undersignoo, residenlslivlng near La Cumbrc rUs:htclub, have bl!<:ome lncrt:'.tsing!y concerned by <fsturbances calised by it3-patrons. \V'I! bt:iie\l~ tt ... ! La Cumbrc .,pt'i<ih::f:. iii 4 manner which is detrimental to OIJr health, scl"ety and wdfar~. Thj $ business is inCOJllpatil1lc with a residential commul'.ity. The disturbances caused by La Cumbre.and its panol'!s hay~ incloJded: • Violent behavior, street brawls Drunk aild di $Orderly conduct • Excesslve noise • Public urination and vomiting • Broken glass and littering on r.eighborbood side-walks We believe this s.iiuatio,g. is no longer tolerable and '9Ie ~commei.ld to Ihe Cjry of Palo Alto thac La Cumbre's conditional use pemrit #73-UP-22 be re\'('iked A,_ e774S t.n ~f1_ DIS _ 403'1 110\.\1 }./\4D'Oct.o.. ~. __ A","" -kI1D __ .r:>.t"",eu"",L",-,L>-! _k=e~. __ '6 '-10 A ..... l(e..t1d4 II &."". ~':-1 -f ; J ,r-- I ", \~,k'_, ~/~ ~i1l3~~ '"""" '7 ~ Y _.c:.£,',-,,", __ h'-,-c<.: ... l ~=C,-' _<'-_C'::.l::.l::.. .. "'·. __ _ /O~ Pml"! ( /' We the underngned, res:idents living neaT La Cumbre rug:h1club, ha ... ,;-b¢;;oTlle increasingly concerned by <tisturbances ca;Jsed by it"S palron~, We bet eve that La"Colmbre operate:;; In a manner which is detrimental to our bealth, safety and we-liare. Ibis busine'ss is incompdlible with a residential community. 1be disturbances caused by La 0 .. mlbre and its patrons have included: • Violent. behavior, street brawls • Drunk and disorderly conduct • Excessive noise • Public uri'Gation and vomiting • Broki!D glass and littering on neighborhood sidewalks Vie believe this situation is no longer toler.wle and we rewmrn~nd to the Cjty of Palo Alto that La Cumbre's conditiomJ use ~t #73 .. UP-21 be revoked. ';Jy'1L cJ4w, , ..... -=1'.1,_'6_ C_,"",_' ,~~""-'-=0=-S=-'\)e---"=tt'-~ '-/o,n Vill, J6sb, f?A. ~~2h ;;. lfl2'~7 Vj-U4 11,"5& 51, f>A .-. '1 0 I. i.~~,::_I!t J-b,. P.t ft-tft, ,- tide." 6. Thue ......... :Ta,"d \?eh",d:scv A""'" • P4..Q~r-k 38S0 4 .A.4., D-= p~ aRj q {3o," '"""= Yi 1/. rWt~ . &" lid, 1'1:J-:,6 , A~!';: (I,(l-.. M (l.J..M'f4~'IJO~ \Ve the undenigned. resident!' living near La Cumbrc rugblclub, bavo;;' become increasin~ly concerned by disturbances {:m:sed· by It"S pa[ron~ We belit;'ve tb~{ La Cumbre cr..ern:e'i j;1 a manner which is detrimental to our health, safely and wt'lfare. lUi s bus:ine~s is incompatible with a [.esid~nlial communi;;]'. T.ce di~s caused by 1..1 Cumbre and it:; pafrons bavl:! included' Vioi~m behavior. street brawls • Drunk and disorderly rondud • Excessive noise Publi(. urination and VOmlti ng • Broken glass and littering on nei:ghboIhood sidewalks We believe this situaticn 15 no longer tolerable and we recommend to the City of Palo A]to thaI La CUmbre's COilWtiOnai use permit #73-UP·22 be revoked. t::'frft" . ..J AmA~ '--L. okt&--:- A-.. .,31"0 ~:t;;. -t a-4,><= ~/~- -'b wrl .5!ZzpzM '2001 Vtlid 1/1 '([1 We tbe uOOerngned, residents Ining near La Cumbre rughtclub, have become increasingly concerned by di~l!mallces caused'by iu patI'Ons.-W~ beheve that La Cumbre vPC;Iiitc!; in a manner wbkb is detrimental to ourbealth, safety and welfare. This busin-ess is incompatible Vl'ith a II".sidential community. ]be disturbances caused by La Cumbre and ils patrons bav~ induderJ: • Violent behaviQr, street brawls Drunk and di!lQrderly CO~1}Cl • Exces.s:ive noise • Public uti.naUon and vomiting • Broh-n,glass and littering on neighborhood sldewalks We believe this situation is DO longer tolerable and we recommend to the Gty of F-dlo A.110 that La CUmbIe's condltional use: permit #73·UP-22 be revoked. 94~ .- 4 ~'1 ~ l"-t:;~ w"'-~ ., ...... -?::J~~~/1<.=A:t:PS'&'!!:4 o~! .. ~. ~ S6 J ('1 "-t'l/ff'l '? w? 7' A _ _ 5_~1 ___ ~_i_~_·~~~r-W_~~ __ _ M',lij-;{ Ub -A~ ~ lIostoj[ffq t/sl.c /319$G:-o ¥ /0 1/.,//. ~·t .. f~. 94J06, _._---------- , ! I ~ L·'1 • " , . :-} :; Web ~ .... -.Ii .... ""'" La c.u..t... DiJbIdub, baYe _ iorvMi""y .... , •• Iby"."" "_!I7I1o~ We-...._ ... ~.".,....i!>. ~ 1lticII ia detricH" to QUI" t..IIh, ..raty ad: wel&re. nne ~ i .. iDoomJlllbblr: 1ritb &_1'"'" COSIIilIDity. lbo di_-. __ "I La c::u..bce IDII ito _ baY< izIcludod: • ViaIaaI~. IUIIee: lawt_ • DmakODd dUaodody _ • E:ra.ift .... · ---..-.:.. • lkaDa st-'" ~ 011 nni&t. d.. , lidewllb W. ___ iI 00 __ --... ' .. rflo .... Oty 01 Plio Alto_ LaCuaibae', __ .... ~lm.vp-Zl be"- A~~~~~~e' ~~~~~~~~~b--~~ ~- -J.t?s EL c..dro .rL ------------- We the undt-rs3gned. residents livjn~ near La Cumbre rusiltdub, have become in<;rt=asingly concerned by diSl:llIbances caused-by us patrons. W~ tJelie\'e .hal La Cu.."tre'vptH'31':~ in a ~ whidJ is detrimental to OW" health, safety and welfare, 'Ibis business is incompatibll!' with a residential community. The distuIbances caused by La Cumbre and its patrons have: included: Violent be-bavior, street brawls Drunk and disorderly <onduct • Excessi \Ie noise • Public urination and vomiting • BrokeD gIas.s an\llittering on neigbb-,:,mood sidewalks. We believe this situation is no longer tolerable and we re~om.mecd to the City of Palo .Alto that La Cwnbre'. conditional u'"' permit 1/73·UP.22 be revoked '~~g.<=-" 39'0 liff?<--.-a< 2? s~ A~ Si~ ........ - - ... ·.1' : . , ---------------------- A ..... .. ~ . I I ~ DRAFT CMY AGENDA ITEM 3 3101 EL tAMINO REAL (LA CUMBREI, ~ppeal of the Zoning Administrator's decision to revoke conditional yse permit 73-UP-22 gr>nted to an eating and drinking us. at 3901 £1 Camj~o Real, now occupied by La CWlbre. The use permit allows recorded music and danci~g ass~ciited with tne on-site sale and cons~tion of liquor. beer and wine. f~le No, 73-UP-2t. Contioued from Planning Commissio' meeting of Janyary 26, 1994. (Coamisstoner Carrasco joins the meeting.) COairqgrsgn Schmidt: Are ther~ additional comments from staff? Nt Cglonnl: There are no additional comments, b~t ! wo~ld like to introduce Captain Toe Merson and Mark Venable from the Police Oepartment who are here for your consultation. Mr. C.TOfU": I haw!' some com.entL First, [ want to explain why I am here, as oppcsed to Slle Cue. I am here to adv1 se the Planning (OIiIJIi ssiorj in order to iyoid any appearance of i conflict or lack of impartiality on the part of Our office. Sue Case, if at all, would h •• e advised the ZQni~ Administrator on how to proceed witb t~is. In that instance, she would then be aeti~ as a ~ro~eclltor. ~e have divided o~r functions in the offfee so that tfle person ad",is1ng t"e decislomnakers does not have any Tole fn the prosecutoria1 fu~et10n. What that translates to i~ tnat tonight I will be .dvlsing the CORliss ion only. I will not be in a position to advise Ms. lytle's staff or the Poi ice Dep.rbaent as to the issues that tney aay confront during the proceedings. The second thing I wo~ld 11ke to dc, in order to make it very clear for this recorrl~ is to give the ca..;ss10n some additional information on the legal standards that apply here. These.re standards that I hope are helpful is yo~ ~ear the evidente tonight. In order to revoke or modify a use permit, there are two basic standards thit are in botn the staff report and in the li~, ge"eral'y. The first is violation cf reasDnable conditions. ff the o(OIIIIIiss;on finds yjolation of reasonable ct'nditions, tne use permit can be revoked. The second is in o~r ordinance --injury to health, safety and general welfare. Under our ordinance. that is grounds not for revDcatfon but for modification of the ~se permit. Tne courts ha~e add!d a little gloss to that. What it really translates to is tllat th.r. has to be some eOl1ljlell in9 public necessity sho.." before ",vocation is done on tfle basiS of a health, safety or genera,l welfare preble.. That is really a nuisance type standard. It is a very tough standard. In order to get to that kind of deCision, the Planning Cu.1ssion needs to s.atisfy itself that other alternatives. slJch as stricter conditions of appro~al or other li~1tations on the operation, will not work. The last th~ng ] want the commission to be aware of is that t~is is one of tne few forms of decision you will ha~e where a court will give no def2rence either to the Planning (ommission or City Council decision. do not necessarily agree wit" tnat legal position, but there are cases that say that a court exercises its independent judgment on thfs record. What that means is that your reasons for taking action will not be 02/09/94 -1- persuasive to .a court, if this gets to a court. Ther'9for-e, the k.inds of oyid.nce t~at you will b. looking at will be fairly limited and tnat tne typical djscretio~ that the commission nas to do what is right is really not here. T~is is I fairly strict kind of proceed;~g. So [ wanted to get t~os. Issues out before the hearing proceeded. 'OI!fssiopcr Carrasto: Ariel, could you elaborit~ a little more on Finding II and the vloiation of relso"ble conditions. What does that alii? Mr. CiJonne: As [ re~f9W this record, there is an alleged violation of condtt1ons In t~at there has been live music, ~ere the existing pe~it .llow$ recorded music only. The other allegations, the crowd concerns, the ather safety threats, are not expressed condition violations, sa those would have to be analyzed ~nder tne cOftP&lling public necessity standard that I mentioned. Do those conditiO"' pr.sent a compelling public necessity for terminating t~e use? Or sa1d in another way, are there other alternatives or additional conditions that can be i~posed that would addT! S S tiles e.l_ By way of backgrcund, I ought to !.'Plain to people that the reason the coyrts ire so protective is that this fs a 20-year-old use permit, and it is ~tewed as a s~bstantial property right. Revocation would be~ in essence, a complete taking of tnat property riq~t. So you are held to a very high standard. tQ!li$s1oner ~! I" terms of looking at alternatives, one, of course, fs to cbange the hours of business. Are tnere constraints on our flexibility in doi~ that, i~ terms of reasonableness or property rights? Mr· Calonne: Net that I a~ aware of. Staff ~ay wish to comment. Ms. Lytle: Hot that I am aware .f. Commissioner Ojakjan: How about along those lines, restrlcting the a-ount of usage Qn the site? limiting the nuMber of pcoplp. wno can use the Site. Mr. Calonne: Depe~ding upo~ what you hear tonight~ that kind of condition can be reasonable. Cha1rp.rson Schmjdt: I would Hke to hear il few cOfMlents from the PoHce Department about the recent police calls in t~at area. Capt4 Herson: The recent police calls have been primarily recorded from September, ]993 to tne end of January, 1994. Th~re have been eleven calls, and we can break that down into these: a domestic violence call, one suspicious circumstances ca'l, one warrant arrest, four other disturbances~ one suspicious vehicle, one battery and one alarm. That is tne sum total of cllls for that period. Chairperson Schmidt: For prior times, all that infonaation 15 listed in our staff report4 [t 1S ~ understanding that the facility was closed 'ome of the time during this most recent period. Capt. Merson: J believe so. 02/09/94 -l- ," . J "'O""",",' " Commissioner GI,lf-r: Thos2 ~umbers of calls lppear to be down somew~at from o~r experience ever tne past 13 to 16 months. Or. a couple of occasions throughout the report, there have bee~ indications that the style, the fOrlat, tne fucus of the busfness has changed, aak1ng it such tnat it .ig~t attract a less rowdy crowd. Have you seen t~at at ali? Has the Police Department noticed th~ change in the ~usiness reflected i~ t~ese arrest changes? Capt MersQn: There is no question that there appears to be a diminution in activity there. W~at the reasons for t~at are, we Ire not sure, but there hiS been I decided lessening of police cills, fDr sure, Chairperson Schmidt: I wo"ld like to comment that I visited the Site two wetks ago. and toured the facility but did not ha\'c any conversations with the .pplicint about this item. W. just loo~ed it the facility. CQ!!iss1oner SchtnK~ let the record indicate tnat 1 Ilso visited the site. Com!1$$io"er Carra$co~ The retard sho~ld indicate that I also visited the site, and I did not haYe any conversations wit~ the applicant. ChalrpersDn Scmnigt: r wi'l no~ open the public hearing. We will begin with the appellant or his representative. Donald Tenenbaya, 831 Soyth Winchester BOY]@Vird, San Jose: I am an Ittcrney representfng t~ owner of the club. The owner is a corporation, I California corporation called L'Ritz, Inc. The person ~o owns 80 percent of the corporation owns at least ten other ~ightclubs. He is not here tonight, although he was here the last time. Tonight he is out of the country; he could not chaoge the schedule that he had. My arg~nt in favor of the continuance Gf the use perait is set out pretty fully fn the staff report exhibit, which .as the arg ... nt that [ .. de before the ZonIng AdmInistrator at the tl .. we had the hearfng back on October 21, 1993. [.ill not go Into that In dotall, but would like to su..arize a couple of points. The first time it ca.e to the att~ntion of t~e owners of the business ~r Myself that there was iI violattor. or a problem there was in the sunmer of 1992. At that time, [ met vith Captain Merson ind I .. t with Hr. Venable. FDr the last yeir~and-i-half. ilmost two years, 1 have be~n working with th~, responding to any comaunication that t~ey give to at. attending any .eettng that they wint me to attend i and it appears that we have been tryfng to work out any problems that there were. The first t1me that we specff;cally knew of any prob1~ with the neighbors was in Septe.ber of 1993, the period of tl .. that Captain Merson indlcatee that the probl ... had decreased. When Ciptain Nerson originally .. t with .. in July uf 199Z, he told me t~at there were some problems ~f nOise with the ne1ghbors~ ] wanted to ~ow specifically, how could there be probl ... of noi.e with the neIghbors free thIs place, because the closest neighbor WiS some distance aw.y. [t WIS not like they were just over a backyard fence. The closest neighbors were 1U1tiple-f~ily units, duplexes, four·plexes, etc, So we never did get the specifics. i I , We ~ere invited tc attend I ~~tfng 1n 5e~tember, 1993. Tne principal owner of the corporatfo" a~ ~yself attended the ~!t1ng, heard spec~fically what these pro~leMS wpre. and it that tfme, he attempted to NctHy these problems. EVen though the pollc, ""port, indicated. dramatlc dec,..,.,. in the c,ll, to the preml.es and thE .lleged problems from Septe.ber of 1993 on. this did not seem to have impressed the Zoning ~fnfstratQr. In October, she ordered th! revocation of the use penmit. A polnt th.t should be of interest ls that the Department of Alcoholic 8everage Control that has kind oT W!lved its way throug~ thi3 t many of the t~fngs that are il1egation~ of .1scondu(t on the premises are tne Sl~ types of ictlvitles that the DepartMent of Alcoholic Beverage Control would take i"tc (~ns1derlt1on if th~y ~ere to 1mpos~ disciplinary action against the licensee at the pre.fses. That ~ould be disorderly conduct t excessive police calls, conduct tnat ~as detrimentll to the public welfare, s.f,ty and oor.l.. In October of 1992, .s reflected in the re~ort that you have, t~e Depirtment of AlcoholiC Beverage Control sent a letter to the licensee, telling the lice"., that they had heard of these problems from the Police Department, ind if the licensee did not straighter. up hiS att and try to pre~ent occ~rrences of these problems on the preeises, the Department of Alcor"c;lic Be,.,erage Control would take action against the premises. That w.s ln October of 1992. This i. february of 1994, a year-and-a-half liter. The Department of Alcoholic Beyerag~ Control has not taken any action against th~ premises, As far as I know, there has never b!en any arrests or ABC Yiolitions. the kinds that yao WGUld expect If, it. fact, this were the type of pre.i.es that .a. contrary to public welfare and morals in Dr about the premises, yo~ would expect sales to .inors. you would expect sales to obviously intOXicated persons, you ~ld expect sales after hours, things like that. The ABC has filed no iccus.tions for any of those, nor Is t~ere any indication of such arrests. To.y knowledge (and I mIght be wrong on this and the Captain can eorrect me), there have not been any arrests wit~in the pre.ises for violations that have occurred within the preaises. There have been arrests fro. t1~ to tiae on a warrant t where they cbecked sa.ebody Dut and found aut that there fs I ~arrant out for SOMething that he eommitted many .iles away, but not far violations that nave o(curred within the pre~ises, I want to bring your attention to one letter, and that is a letter dated July 29, 19~3 fr<>m-tlle Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that is in this packet. It is directed to the licensee. Remeober t,at In October of 1992, the Depart.int sends the first I.tt!r to the licensee, telling tne licensee, we have these allegations that tbere have been excessive tailS. If you do nat clean up your act, we are going to file disciplinary action against you. In this letter in your packet some nine months later, the Departaent says, ·T~e Oepartsent is aWir~ that you are attempting to work with the Palo Alto Police Depart .. nt in .11evlating the.e prabl .... Cons1dering your current dialogue with the Police Depart .. nt and your apparent efforts to operate orderly premises. we do not intend to file a~ accusation at t~is time. However, we reserve t~e right to proceed with tne actusation if it appears that your efforts to contral your premises and operate an orderly premlse, have f.iled." That wa. in J"ly of 1993, and we lce approaching July of 1994 in another four or five ~nths. The Oepartlent still has not filed tnat dccusation. Tnat is consistent with the f.ct that beginning ln September of 19S3, when the licensee beciDe 02/09/94 -4- / aware specifically of Ute neighbors' concer'ns, the licensee Clttempted to alleviate th~ b~ changi~ security. changing clientele, changing method of operation, things liKe that. When the licensee found that the Zon1ng Administrator d1d ~Dt see it the Wi) ~I!' did. ttlat 80 percent owner. together wit~ the concurrence of the Soard of Directors, ~ho are the owner, attem;>tod to s.l1 the premls.es. With the cloud of the pending revocation af the use per.lt. he has nr.t been $ucc!ssful in f1~ding i buyer. Howeyer~ ~e did find ~ .anage.e"t te~ that wo~ld come in there and attempt to striighte~ ~ut the proble., with the indication tkat if it could stralg~t.n out .n~ preble. that •• s there and r"n the place to the satisfaction of the neighbors and .tt~t to see that the neighbors enjoyed the reasonable use of their neighborhood, considering that it bordered an I commercial arel Ind could di~inlsh the pollce calls, it would consider buying the bu~ines$. What has happened is that management has gone in there, and the managem!nt has done seyeral things. The first t~lng the new .. nagement did was to retain a consulting firm that is very experienced in handling adMinistrative problems ar.d in c~nl(ating _ith neighbors~ something thit ] cannot do as an attorney_ What I do is to try and straighte" out legal probl~ and, if necessary, litigate cases. The owners ~f the premises Ire experts in runni~g the premises. but root 1" communicating whit th~~ are doing to the neighbors. So Coats Consulting has attempted to go cut into the neighborhood, find out what the specific problems are, .nd rectHy th .... The se~ond thing that the new .anageaent has don~ is to put to use its expertise In prior places that it has owned and .. naged, where it has had tts co.aercial preMises border o~ a re~idEntial area. It has don~ the things that Ire necessary to decrease. if not almost eliminate, some of these prable.s, It has hired new security, intensive sec~rity; it has dane triinins for security, put in in entirely new operation of the pre.ises, and according to ~y understanding (I do not police the activities there), th~ premises has not closed. Any c10sure of the premises is not a cause for a decrease Tn police a~tiy;ty. I believe t~at they have eli.jnated one of tbe nights that they were operating, but they have never actually closed the pre.1ses. As an indication of the incidents being dcwn, about two w~eks ago, at the ti~ that this item was previously set, that afternoon, I called Mark Venable with thE Palo Alto Police DepartMent and said I had not 90tten any new reports from the Police Department. Was it a mistake, or what? So what he did was t~ photocopy and FAX to me the reports that ~ad Dccurred since the October meeting with the Zoning Adm1nistrator~ I went thiough those reports. Many of them .ere for the location of 3901 El C .. ino, and aTaost all of them were for the aotel there. Tne on1y ones I could specifically see that indicated they were pol;~e reports is that tnere was one Incident in January of 1994, oor,ing bac'.ards, that could be attributed to these premises. one incident in December of 1993 that could be attrfbuted directly to these premises; and two calls from ~eighbors for noi~e in No~e.ber of 1993, with the notation on there that there was no substance to one of the calls. It was underlined -No disturbance.~ That Is all I could spec'fic.ll~ find. But even if, in fact, there were nine that were generalities that tne police can attribute to these preaises, or eleven, as they say, d~ring a five-MOnth period of time, we have lpproxfaately two a mont~, which for tbe Police Department is two too 02/09/94 -5- ',.- aany, but cons1derlng the number of people t~at are there and the fact that ~ou have a nightclub, it obvious1) is not in u"reasonablt u~e of th~ premises. ! WQuld now like to nlve Jt. Weaver cf Coats Consulting talk. and he will tell you w~at he has done as a cn.arunity effort here. Cp!l1safoner Glazier: Mr. Tenenbaum, you did say during your comments that the Oepartaent of Alcoholic Be~tr~g2 Control ~ad never cited you or taken action on th~ facility? 1 nete l letter here in our packet of October 9, 1992 which i, addressed to '"ief Durk!n and copied to you, indicating that there was. fino •• de of tho c.-pany in the areount of Sl,SOO in lieu of a ten-d~ syspensicn of the license. SC that, in fact. contTid'cts your statement. Hr. Teniobaum; No, it doesn't. let me explain it~ please. What ~appened is that the operator of the pre.ises had sold the business. There was a $&1. pending t. SODeo.e .ls~ during this period of tiae. The other operator v's in there und~r an interi. operation agreement. When YDU go dawn to the Department of Alcoholic 8everagE Control and you file an application for a transfer, tne buyer can get i temporary license to operate the business w~ile it is pending. The buyer wa~ operating the bustness whiie it was pending, and during that p~riod of time, there was i violation. What the violation was _is a .inor that had a false identification and was on the preMisPs. There was no sale of alcohol or anything else, but it was by that buying entity. and w~en the seller fou~d out aboyt that. it rescinded the agree.ent and took the premises back. 'OIIj$sjonrr Glazitr: Jf you look it t~e reference numbers on t~e two letters, t~ey are the same, so one .1ght assume that tn~y relate to the .... incIdent •• Also, the writing in t.is initi.l letter indicates, ·Patrons ~ery intoxicated and t~nd to loiter, f19~t and cause disturbances .• Mr. lenenb.UI: There arE a lDt of allegations. bYt the Oepart8ent of AlcoholiC Beyerige Control ha~ neyer filed an accusation 19ainst this owner of t~ese pre-ises. toamis$jooer ;]a;ier: And t~ere is the letter to us dated J~1y 29t~ ~efe they do say, very specifically, that following that other ~arning. in thefr words, there appear to be v;oliti~ns of the law a~d consider the letter to you an official warning to you that these need to be curtailed Dr they will ta,' further action. Mr. Tenenbaum; I agree that the letter spe2ks for itself. The alleged viol~tions are thE clai~s by the Police Oepart.ent that there were violations ~el"'e. Un.fortu{\t:.tely, we <10 not see any police reports here. What we receive are printouts, and t~e prf~tout$ go to 3901 [1 Camino Real. As I c~ecked the last four pages of printouts there, I would say thal 90 to 9S percent of them had to do with the motel toat is t~ere, not these. prem.ise.s~ At any rate, the Oepartment of Alcoholic Beverage Control, in 1ts July 29, 1993 letter i. tellin9 the licensee that it has received allegations from the Police Department that therE are proDiern. at the premises. It further goe~ on to say that you ha~e been workiR9 with the Po1ice Oepartment. and if you work with the Police Department, if you correct tne:e problems t we are not 90i~9 to file against you. If you don't, we are g~ing to file 02/09/94 -6- 'w 1 $k¢'t • ... ;;, ., .. ~ *;:,~ / against you. I can only say that thfl havE worked out tnt problems, and they ~.ve not been filed against since that warnin~ in JuTy, 1993. Cqmaiiii2ner 'latier: One last question? and this may be I quest;~n for the person from COltS. ] would be very inttrested to lea~n which of th~ ]8 reca..endations ~ive, in fact, be~~ fmp'~nted. In your comments, you Bay haye 1nd'cated tnat S~ of them hive not been followed up on or have not been t,cepted. I wo~ld be very interested in understanding the exter.t to whj,~ the oppellant tonight has actually gone forolrd with these good 'a1th recOMmendations to 1aprove t~e situ.tion. Mr. IenenbaWl~ First~ I don't tnink I told you this, but the aanagernenl personn~' t~~t are in the~ have deCided that they thi~k they can run the place c~nsfstent with coamunity welfare~ and tney have EKerctsed t~e1r option to buy the plite. T~ey have signed i (ontract to buy it; they have opened an escrow, and they have applied to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for the transfer of the licer-se. You are correct. It would be more within their province to tell you tnat. Com.is$ipner Carrasco: Regarding liv! music, can you tell me on what date did you dis(cv!r that live music WiS not per.r.itted? Did you ad~ise your client about th.t1 Mr. Tenenbaum: I never discovered that live music was not permitted. discovered that the Planning Department alleged that live ~us1c is not permitted. When [ loc~ed into the matter, I saw that in ]973, there was a conditional ~$e permit that was granted. It specifically says~ for recorded music, but it also speclfi,a11, says, for da~cin9. In 1973. there werem't any OJ' •. Almost .11 music tnat was in clubs like t'is (ano this club that was operating at that tl .. had live ... lcj from 1973 until the present time, 21 years later, th!y have had live .us;c in the place. I t.ln onl1 say that th~ allowance of not 1 ive music for 21 yeu"s:, togettler wit~ t~e al1owa~ce of danci~ in the conditional use permit, appears to me to be I reas~nable use of thE condition by the premises operator. CQM!i$sicngr Carrasco: Do did y~ advise your client that li~e ~U$ic would be penoltted? Th,t it can eontinu.? Mr. Tenenbaum: I am advising them that if the conditional use permit is revoked on the grounds that there was a violation of the condition by having live ausic there, \,Ino'er the circUJlstances of specifkally allowing dancing In the premises and .11oving live music for 21 years~ that the cit1 wDuid De wrong, end that they should fight it in court if that ;s their opt1an~ CQllissjpner 01akian: the club that happened what those were? You mentioned two incidents that you attribute to in the last seVEral months. Co~'d 1hU characterize M~. Tenenbaum: J can only tell you ~hat it says on the pri~tout. Unfortunately, we do not get a police report, and this is somebody's sw.aary. CQII1s$foner Qiakian: am sure you have you hid a chance to look at the calls for serYtc~ list running from August, )992 to August, 1993. [n there, tt eharacterizes ~nqst these 82 some odd calls, jf we go dawn, 02(09(94 -7- -~-. August 2'3, 2993, arrest for drunk driving. AuglJst 23, 19513, al"Nst for nlrcotfcs. I Cin go througn thB whole thing, but there were several Irrests 'Dr drunkenn~ss and r.lr(otics. There are severa' arrests for altercations, fights in front of the business, batt try. an arr~st for assault, etc. The Question is, you have seen these? Are you saying that these arE things that didn't happen? Mr. Tenenbaya: I .. saying that in .11 probability, those things happened j but where was that arrest for drunk dri~in91 and how does that have Inlt~1ng to do w;t~ these preMises? I don't know. Was this was somebody who was stopped on the corner of Ventura tnd £1 C~fno Real in front of the pr~ises who kid consumed ~is alcono1 1n San Jose? There is no ~tldicitfDn that this: is I penon who • .is drinking in this c1ub, that was obviously fntoxicated and ~nt nut and got fn his car and was arrested for drunk driying. No indication whatsGeyer on th.t. I aa saying that there is no nexus, no connection between ill of these. The bulk of thest are loud .us1c, and tnese are co~laints from (1t1zens on tne loud mus;c~ One. if they occurred, thty ha~e def1nttely been contai~ed since you had new management without absentee ownership_ With reqard to tne rest of them, J don't know where they occul-red. Tne only one in that Qyick look that] aa giving to the list you referred tat it says, verbal dlsturbance between band and bcuncer~ r am assUMing that has sa.ethir.g to d9 witn th~ premises, a"d ~t .1ght be either on or off the pre.1sel. The arrest for assault, disturbance, battery, unruly subjects, unrul) subjects where? ~at? How? Tnere is no connection he ..... CQ!!1§s1pn'r Qjak1an; ] get the idea. We will get back to thfs when we talk to the Police Oepartaent before this hearing Is over with to see how they substantiJte su.e of these t~ings. The staff report mentions an event that happened on September 11, }993. I large altercation taking place in close pro.i.ity to thIs club. Are you f .. i1iar with that? Mr. Tenenbaym: No, I am-not. Commi§sioner OjaKiin: Did you read the staff report? Mr. T2nenbau~: Yes, I read the staff report. Commissioner QiakjAn: Oid you ncte mention cf that 1ncide"t~ My Tenenbaum: Yes, I saw it. COMmissioner Qjakian: 00 yo~ nave any CQ~nts about that? Mr. Tenenbaum: No, I do not. I don't condone any conduct that has occurred on the premises in the past. If it was a ~iolation of the law, if it waS attr1~table to the management of the premises, I do not in any ~ay condone that cond"ct. I can only tell you at this time that wner. the conduct has ca.e to the attention of the manageaent, who should have been on the premises preyious1y .. n.ging it and was not, he attempted to strai9~ten it out. Tnat is ~anffest by the reports that ~aye occurred since t~er.. Putting it in the word~ of Officer Ye~able when I called bim . ! 02/09/94 -8- -~,...., -- two wl!'fks ago a"d asked t.im how things were t~E!'re, these were his exact q~otes~ -Calls for servi~es are way dawn.--It is well within a manageable area.-Tn!s! were his words. This is what it is no~, and this is the way it should be. J se! no reason why it won't continue that way. Coamissiooer Piakjan: Getting back to the !¥ent we just talked about, where you said you would ~ot condone an event like that~ in your own wards~ lGOking at the lon1ng Administrator's hearing, is that type of event an ~nreasofiible event in terms of the safety of the people who live in Ui.t areil? Hr. TenenbaUM: I will h4ve to review it a~ take I lock at it. but obviously if there is a large f1ght~ if tner~ are disturbances, yes, that is unreasonable. CQM!lssioner OJJ!i!n: That is an unreasonable e~.nt? Mr. Tengnbaym: An e~ent~ ~es. An event. Chairperson Schmidt: Can you tell me how mu," the club ~zs been open and how muc~ it has been closed between the recent ll~ of the poi ice reports that we nave just discussed? Mr. Tenenbaum; I ciln Qnly tell you what they have told me, and thBt was Tn passing. That is that for S~ perlod of tl~, they have c10sed on Th~rsday nights. Ot~er than that, the schedules r~ined the same. But as far as being specific about itt tne g~ntleM~n who has been managing the club is ~.r. to tell you that. Commissioner Sch1nk: If I can summar1z~ what you see. to be saying to ~S, all of the problems tnat Dccyrred were due to mismanagement under tne club's ownership, but now~ th~y nave new management, $0 it is properly ~na9ed. What assurances do we have that this owner wonlt ,llow it to slfp into .isManagement again? Mr· Tenenhaum: Well, you hay, severa'. One that your attorney hiS said is to iapose reasonable conditions. T~at would be one, whatever thos~ re-as.onable conditions would be. If those conditions are unreasc;'1a.ble, then you face a court situation the same as you would for not valfdly revoking the conditional use permit, per S!. That would ~ o~e way. The other way would be to allow the operation of the club to cont~~ue as it bas been witn this .. nigement~ knowing the fatt that yo~ have the opportunit1 tQ do what you are doing now It any ti~ --revoking the conditional use permit or apply conditions that will furtner bring it into Hne. You are sitting there with thE h._r. If, 1n fact, they do not operate it in a reasonable manner far the reasonable enjcyme~t of the ne;gnbor~ood, you tan always do wnat you Ire doing now. Commlssjgner Carrasco: You kind of mentioned that the police incidents did not start at la Cu.bre. If r read the testiPOny here by Patrol Captain Tom ~er$on, Tum Oestefano, Serg~ant, i9!int Destefano, taptain Merson again on Pages 8 tnrough }] in the minut~s of the Zoning ~ifiistrator hearing, tnere arE several incidents t~at ha~e been docUliented in the police records that dl) show that the occurrences sta.rted at La C~mbre, or people who ~aye been arrested testify that they have been. 02/09/94 ·9· Mr, Ttne"bay~: let ~e try to qualify. To my kno.1edge, from reading thro~gh what l've got, wh1Ch ts the sa~ as you ha~e, and not havi~9 the police reports, r know of no arrests w:thin LI Cumbre fur vicl~t10"S of the law within La Cumbre. I Ar.OW of roone. ] ~jght be wrong, but it appears to .e that the arrests that were m30e in l~ C~re were made for ~arrants Dn people ~hom they found, tn eheCKouts of tht~, that there were Gutst~nd1ng warra~ts for ~iolltions in other places, and there may have beer. arrests for ~'1ohtiol1s ouh1de of La Cuabre. Okay? Ooes that make it a little clearer? That is only from the information that ! haye~ If I was given police reports that show otherwise, 1 would not sa, that. The other thing is that to my knowledge, there were no arrests in or about La CU8bre for ABC violation~ during the period of tiDe whe~ ~ client WiS operating t"e pro.;,e,. By ABC vio'atlons, those are the kinds of viol.tions that you u5ui'ly would expecl In a place lhat is a"egedly operating contrary to pup'ic welfare ind ~r~l~. That would be arrests for sales or service to minors and arrests for sales to obvfously fntoxicited personi. There is a code section in the Business and Professfo~5 Code that allows you tG irre~t i person who is serw1~ an obviously intoxicated person. If there were drunks a11 tne place tnat you grab an ~nferenc:e fTOll by looking at this lnfonlat'on, 1 would expect that there would be an Irrest of a bartender Dr t~e owner of the place for serving an obviously intoxicated per50n. To.y knowledge, t~ere wa5 no such ~rrest. That is whit I am saying. Chairperson Schlidt: You .ent1oned a p!nd1ng sale of this facility. Can you proYi~e us w1tn documentation on the sale? ~r, Tenenbaum: Yes, the perscn who 1s going to speak here went down to ti>e Department of Al coho' I c 8.,. ... g. Control today to fll. an app 11 <at Ion fer the transfer. He 1S IV1ilable to give you t~e info~at1on. He owns the better portion of the corporation, if not ill of the corporation, t~at Is buying the preMises. ~ is the brot~r of the person who has an BO percent interest in the corporation. Looking it that right on Its surface, that does not look like an inN'S length transact'o~~ However, he ~iS nevpr been in ~s1ness with his brot~~r. He has, in esse~ce. beer. a coopetitor of his brother. He ~as owned other nlg~tcl"bs and stl" oons other "igktcl~bs. ar~ owns them in areas .nere they border on reSidential areas. He has ~eye~had a Yialat;on~ He bas hid ma"~ licenses in many aightclubs~ He kas never ~ad a Yiolation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, and he hiS never been arrested nor has there ever been any probleas in lny of his clues, to my knowledge. MY client had att~mpted to sell this, but just could not find a buyer with this problem hanging over its h.ad. So his brother, feeling comfortable that h. could clean up tho situ,tion, said, )'11 tell you wIlat. ) .il' ~o in and ~nage It, If I can manage it and if ] can tUrn it around, 1 will consider buy~ng it. So w~at he is doin9 is, he is going to buy it now, because he is comfortable t~at he can turn it around. An escrow 1S gofng to be opened witn .. noy. Thero will be a bulk trinsfer that will be recorded and published. There .ill be an application to the Depart .. nt of Alcoholic Beverage Control wit~ full exposure as to what the cons~deration for the transfer is. and it is an arm's len9th transaction. If you want to police it, you can police it the ~ime way that you are policing this 02/09/94 ·10· .. entit,. Chalrpor,OD Schmjdt: Did yoo "Y th.t the .~plication to ABC ha, been •• de or wl1\ be .. de? Mr. Tencnbaum~ The application .as taken d~ t~ere today, and one or two of t"-doc .... nt. ""re not --the ABC will or,ly accept tile appl1catlon If every docuaent is in crder~ That ~s th! f1nanC;ll affida~lt. the pe~sonal Iff~div1t, I rEc~rded notlt! of transfer, i stock questionn~lre, a diasram of the pre.1ses. the stock in the corporation that is applying has to be 1s$ued, .1~utes of the corporation have to be there, the articles and t~e byl.ws. If anyone of those tnings is not tnert, there was an appoint.ent .,de .e.er.l weeks ago for 8:30 this morning. The gentleman went down there. and one or twa of the doc~~nts did not pass .uster, so a furtner appoint.ent was made. It is IY understanding t~at it Is fGr next T~e$d~. I do n~t represent them. I represent the current DWner~ That Is what he t.lls Me, and he is here today. I .sked nil whether or not ~e was successful today, and he told me no, and that fs what he's got. But It will be recorded. and it will be published, and it will go through. ll.1!1 WeUtr, CDaU Consu1tlng, 90S7 SOQyel Oriv!!" A!)tQ.i: Good eve"in9~ Chairperson Schmidt and members of the c~;ssio~. In i little while, J will be saying Good Morning. Just by .ay of • brief background, I am 0 prcfessional land use pTanner with four Dr fiVE years experience in the prf~lte sector handling c.ses si.ilar to this lnd a iot of other planntng satters. [also have 12 years of Experience with the County of Santa Cruz as I staff planner, and have handle~ many use permits and haVE sat at tables like that on your side of the fence, 50 I prEtty ~th know both sides of the issue here. We beca.e involved it the beginning of December, and dyring the last two-and-a-half mont~s or so, I have had the opportunity to talk t~ the planning stiff, to talk to S~ gf the key neighborhood representatives, and as well. I naye had a chance to lOOk through tne staff reports, the police reports, the neignborhood complaints, and sa.e of the other items that have .ade up yoor rJther lengthy packet. After .11 of this, ., first reaction was, what a mess. The list of complaints paint 1 pretty grim picture. ! th1n( it is ~nfortunate that t~e situatlo~ got to tnis pOint a.nd got so out of hand. I think WE! could probably speond this night and .any others discussing particular instances of where things occ~rred based or. police reports, nefghborhood eo~cerns and ~omplaints~ and we would spend a lengt~ of ti.e m~be not necessarily ipproprtate trying to ferret out all of those different issues. What I WDuld 11k. to do is to perhaps try and guide us on a different course. T~at ~o~ld be to try and see if there Is a way to maintain the ptn.1t on behalf of the new owner and to rectify the situation such that this facility becomes a good ~ei9hbor. To tnat regard, I would l!ke to go through sa.e of the changes that haye occurred dur,ng t~e last two-and-a-half mont~s on the site. Please understand tnat these changes are i~tended as a beginning, and that 'lie a"f"e interested in hearing .. "hat your ca..ission and your staff ha~e to say and what sugg!stions yuu may have to offer. As well, ~e wDuld like to hear from the neighbors and see what other conditions or concerns we could impleme~t that would help make thl. a better facility. 02/09/94 -11- So we ~1ew t~is as the beginning of a new relationship witn th~ city and with the neighborhood. A. alluded to by Mr. Tenenbaum. the most significant tHtJE!' and change is that new OW'/"Iership. You will later hear f~ ATi, and he ~ill te1' you in his own wor~5 about his philosophY of aanag1ng and answe~ questions that y~u have. let me say that what we now ~ave t! I new style of management. We have an owner who is a nands-on type of Ilinlger who is at the filcilU)' dail". This differs from the prt!'\'iDIJS ibsentee typt of ... nagoNent that \lias Ute style of t ... e previous atI«Ier' • In addition, this ~er ~as hi~ed 1 manager that is c~~able of running a club, and is also capable of 1nterfacin9 witn the city personnel and w1th the neighborhood. One of tne thing. we would like to do i. to e.tabli.h open coo.vnicatlon betweeo this .. nager and th. neighborhood such that if there is a problea, there is a telephone number and there is I face and a person that will COle and try tQ ~tlp sc1ve the situation in assisting the pollee in that reg.rd, also. The ~hasis here is to offer a high quality club, one that does not iapact tne city or tne neighboroood. Th. owners are fully •• are that this use penalt i. in jeopardy. In the 1.,t t.o months, they have begun to lnstitute a n~r of different changes, including cha~Qing the name of the ciub, and t~e type of music has changed to more of a Latin jazz. Th1s is attracting, it appears, a slfghtly older crowd. They ~re now r!quiring a cover c.harge and a dress code. Again, ttlis attracts a 51 ightly older crowd, hopefully, a les$ ramb~nctio~s crowd. The days and ho~rs of tne club .ilre somewhat fTI contention. It 15 ay understinding that the club really never closed. I alluded to that in a letter that I wrote ~arlier in the ye~r, that tttey ~ere considering closin9 for some remode11ing. That actually never occurred. T~ey did close an Christ.as Eve, and they are now currently closed Monday nights and Thursday nights. The club closes its doors at 1:30 a.m~ now. They no lQnger offer dr1nK specials or Happy Hour prices. This is an It tempt to reduce the amount of .leoOol and .100 to not entice the type of crGWd that lik.s those types of events, comes e~rl~, stays l.t~, to get s~ec\il alco~olic drinks at special prices. They have, as mentioned. hired uniformed security guards. These guard. patrol the site and they also patrol the neighborhood. ~art of their respcnsibillty is to regulate tne traffic and coordinate parking and pedestrian activities on the site and in the neighborhood. As an asidet I b211eve t~ere is a club in this town called The edge that had some similar prDblems_ They instituted i sec~rity guard, ind that see.ed to be effective with one of t~eir problems. Sn we afe hopeful that this ~ill help provide some coordination on the site and In the neighborhood. lhe speaker syste. has been reduced inside the club in an attempt to reduce the sound. Doors, is well, have been insulated_ The exterior of the bY1lding is scheduled to be painted. The grounds have been cleaned up. ,"d a da11y litter patrol has beer. installed. not only on the site b~t i~ the neighborhood. The establishment is now trying to serve free coffee for anyone at one O'ClOCk in an attempt to slow down t~e alcohol flow and get SOle caffee into people. In addition, patrons are nQ longer allowed inside the club after one o/tl~tk, so if you ire not i~, you can't come in lite. Notices are ~ow bein~ passed out to patrons, and J would like to provide your staff with a copy of it. Basically, it is asking the patrons 02/09/94 ·I2~ \ ------.--'In_, • . /; to acknowledge that there hiS been i problem , and to help in solvlnq that problem. They do make announcements tnrough the loud speaker also. Agai~, these aeasur~s I have ~ntioned are just i starting point. The new managEDent would very .uch like to meet with the neighbors to hear directly from thea their additi~nal concerns ;~d what measures and illProvements they -lIIOul.s like to s~e imp1e1Mnted. 'lie are open to suggestfo~s from your commission and from your staff. We would like to have the ~pportunity to show that the new owner. the new management, i$ sincerely interested in operating a Migh Quality club that is conslstent ~1th its use permit (I know we are going to Mive to settle a f£~ issue~ on that), is a good neighbor and does not negatiwely impact the community. With all Df that said, 1 wou1d like to suggest I solution or proposition. That would be that at tile cO!'lclus1on of tonight's ~earing:, perhaps we contin~~ thi$ iteR to the first meeting l" April or ~en~~er your c~lend~~ allows. T~e purpose of this would be to allow ar. opportunity for the neighbors and t~e owner to .eet, to get acqu.inted, to hold th.t kind of a resource sessiDn, and then ~ke ~dd;tional changes and imprcvements to the club to conti"~e tn estahlish what we feel we have begun to establish. that is, a good track record. The". fi~ally to d~nstrate that it ca~ be run in an approp~iate manner~ J know there is concern by members of the ne1ghborhood that tnis process ~as taken a long time to get to tnis pOint, 50 ~ 5~gqe$t10n to continue t~e .. tter would allow the process to stay right where it is, that i~, yOY WGuld not be moving this into allowing the permit to continue and t~en having to start the revocation precess all over again. We could stay right 1n t~is process. If we are back before you in Apri1 or whatever d~te that would be, if we have not established ourselves as a 900d neighbor. and do not have a good track record. then yau are free to act right on to the City Council, whic~ 1 understand is the process. So it 15 our sincere intent to be back before the commission in April or wheneve~ with the $up?Qrt, hopefully, of the ne'9hborhood, if that is poSSible, i~d to provide an additi~na1 good tract record. T~at concludes -1 ~rks. I ~ happ~ to answer any questions. I do not ~ave a real strong history of this, beeause I am o"'y recently involved, but I will do what I can. Cgmmis5ipner Carrascn: Mr. Coats, in your ietter dated December 17, 1993. couid yo~ explain your recoamendation No.4 Which talks about the eight speakers tnat were eliminated and the sound board that has been l~c~ted ,.ay fr~ the stage. It goes on to Sjy that this enables the house to -anage the ausic, rather t~an the musicians. Mr Cgats: The toncept there was to reduce. in totality, tMe n~er of speakers in the sound system and to take the sound board whic~ regulates the different instruments a"d the velocity. the bass, the tempo, whatever, and move it back away from the stage and hire someone to run tMat equipment. Commissjoner Carrasco: In other words~ in previous cases~ tke musitians operated the ~sic level? Hrt Coats: Typically, that is the way it works. In ~ experience~ a roady often runs tnat eqUipment. and Mis job is to ~ke the band sound good. Most musici.ns 1 know like to play lOUd. 02/09/94 ·13· CQ!ljsslP"tr Carr,sco: It was not the intent to el~minat! the musicians? Mr. Coats: My understanding is that 1t was an Ittempt to ha~e the no~se cDnt""1 the teapo and tne magnitude of the ~.Ic. CQII1ssiontr Carrasco: And the musicians would ~till remain? Mr. CQats: 'ies. CQlMlssjoner CarrascQ: Were you aware of the letter that the cit} se~t IOU from ~Ich Cabrera (Ordinance Compllan,. Inspe,tDr; that describes the use perMit as net permitting l;Ye ~slc? Mr. CpitS: Yes, 1 am aware of that letter. Commissioner [,rrascQ: Was it on thE adv1ce of your attorney that you d~cided that the musicians (ould continue on? Mr~ Cg.ts: I have net made that decls1or. at all. As a land use planner, there are land use issu~s and th~~e are legal fssues. My pOSition would be to argu~ tnat issue out here, and if your ~o.mission decid~s that the penait really does not allow live ~$1c, then the applicant has two ,hoices. One 15 to cease the live m~sic, and the other is to lose his license. "y recommendation, as a planner, wou1d be to cease the live ausic, and co.e bac~ befnre yo~ and apply for an lppl~catfon t~ ~nd his penalt to ha.e 11.0 music. You WDuld ~.v. a .hDle other public ' •• riog and go at It (no. there afresh. Cpamissioner Qiakian: Jim, have you opened othe! tl~b$ in other pl.te$? f1!r. C04ts: No. Cpapissiontr Qiakian: So this ~oul~ be a first. Mr. Coats: I am not ope~ing t~e club. 1 ~aye repr!sented other clubs. haye had experience wit" restaurants and ~us1cal estlb'is~nts in ~ experienc~, yes. Commissipner Qiakfan: What I am trying to get at here is, why would you want to step into this $ituat~Dn? You could apply for a use permit and start up i club s~ere. Mr~ Coats: Did I miss SOMething? 1 ha~e been retained by the owner to Iss;st ~i~ in this process. [have no interest In the club. C9B!1ujllner Oiakiln: Right. Why would the ,Person wnom you are representing: want to buy 1ntD ill situation 1 ih this, as opposed to j!Jst applying for a use pe~it and openip9 up a cl~b somewhere? Nr, Coats: Trolt is a question I cannot answer. ~ou would have to ask Arl, who will speak right after me. CQlmiss10ner Glazier: You are an employee af the old owner, PQt of the new, proposed owner. Is tne new .anager here t~is e~~n1ng? 02j09/94 -14- " .. 0, -.. - Mr. Cgats: The new ~er and ~nager are here. I am actually being r!tafned by t~e new manager and o~n~r. CQI!is$Jgoer "azler: I w~uld be interested t~ ~ear. since you are an outside consultant, what tne new manager and owner's plans are ~is-a·vis SOle of these recommendations, specificaliy, what their schedule is for i.pl.mentlng .11 18 of t~ese. Mr. Coat,: I do oot ~.ve those 18 In front of me. kQllissjoner Glazier: They are frGm your letter. Mr. Coats: Okay. I went through a majority of t~ose, I think, in my presentation. Commissioner G,azier: I would like to hear ~hat the manager's expertise ;s in running clubs of tnis sort. One of the problems you nave identified is that the prewious ~anagement did not have the ability to control its patrons and thereby. it led t~ the problem of the health, safety and welfare of the '~n}ty. I would like to ~nderstand what experience this new 8tnlger brings with him that will allow him to control patrons, and I would like t. hear hi. talk about ~i. plans. Mr. Coats: Okay. If there are no other questions, ] will introduce Ari. Hargutune Aua"essja~, 3901 [1 Camino Real. Pale Alto: Good evening, chairperson and commissioners. My name is ATi Auanessian. I am the brother of tbe ~~-owner, Harry AUQnessian~ r have had experience of 30 years 'n restaurants, hotels and nightclub operation. ] ~ a graduate of the hntel ~nd restaurant &ana9eaent schoo' and have operated ~nJ nightclubs. Currently. [ ~ one of the owners in San Jose, and one of the big pra.oters ther~. 1 do concerts at the Convention Center, where there are on1y two promoters that are allowed to do that. [nappp.n to be one of th... I have crowds there of 10,000 to 15,000 people. Since }989 When the Convent~on Center oyened Up, I have demonstrated tG them that I Kn~ how to control crowds a~ have i decent operation that brings in good reyen~es for the city, as well as protecting the safety of the public~ Therefore, the city has recognized qe as one of tne promoters there. I do own a nigbtclub there in San Jose called Saribi, wh'ich plays thE latin jazz .usic and is pretty much the same type. It is ~ smaller operatton. is well as this on~:' [t is closer to adjacent neigh~rs who live there. ~self and .Y brother, we have two different philosophies on life~ He owns lots of nightclubs, and he is an absentee manager~ He is present at ..... He basically get ... nager. to do the job for him. If they do not do !t, he fires theR and gets somebody else. Somehow, we are different in this operation. I enjoy what r am doing, &nd ] like to be where I am. [ like to see what happens; I like to see the results. It was s~here around October when my brother told me tnat he was having problems with Palo Alto, and wa, there anything I could do to help him. He said h. doesn't ~Ive tl.e to go there. He had some managers, sa.e partners. who had .i ... naged the place. I told him that I dido·t know if I really wanted t. d. that, but I told him I .ould take a look at it. If it is good, ] will go into it. Perhaps maybe if ne is willing, .~d he is not gOi"g to be toere, I said, this problem Is not going to go away. If they want ~ to stay there and do it, I will maKe a proposal to buy the piace. 02/0;/94 -IS· .- / After ! was tnere fQ~ a couple of week~, I kind of cased the joint, as tney say, J looktd around tne neighborhood to see whit the problems were, and I tried to find 0 ;olutlon for myself where J can be neighborly I.d conduct a proper business. Tne problems that we have here in the staff report, I lOQk .t those complaints, violations, whatever, and I try to iddress each and everyone and tackle them and see haw I can cvercome the problems. The probl~s we have here, one of th~ ;s parking. and loud BUSic is another~ also lack of security, lack of ma~agement contr~l, littering I. another. If we go back for the little ti~ I h.ve been there, three months, If you look at It, .. st of these probl .. , have been taken core vf. We don't have litter around the parking lot or in the ne1ghborhoOO" al1.)'1ItOre. I have instructed III.)' mana-ger, Rudy, to c.lean Ollr premises, around the premises, 1~ the streets. not only where we are located but .11 oround the neighborhood dii1y. ~e,.e ire operating, we clean it hourly. So after we leave the place, it is clean. If we come back tne next day and ~ find S~ litt~r there, paper cups, etc., I don't want tc point i finger at where they come from. as tnat is not tne fssue here. My problem is tc clean it so that it is not there, and lIle do th:is. HOlse was another one that we took car! of. As far as the amount of sound going out of the c1 UD, \lie took care of it. There were too many spealers t It was like I concert hall. I eliminated it to a smaller amount of speakers, and smaller speakers so that tne sound would not go as fir as it used to go. Also, we have put fnsulatior. around t~e doors because there was I little crack where tne sound was leaking out. We ~ave closed that off so t~at the sound is not '5 audible outside is it was. Rignt now, it is ~ery, very low key. I think t~e question Commissfoner Carrasco asked about how we contro1 the sound~ the ~s1c1ans have the sound board in front of them. They like to h.ar themselv •• , and i' they start playing and get. little Invo1v~ in their ausic, they hav~ a tendency to cran~ up the volume. So we took thE .. ster control to the OJ booth, and if they get i littl. bit out of hand, we brfng them down, £0 the sou~d leve1 1$ lower. As for the question, wh1 do ] want to buy this? Number one, I think it fs a very nice place. It is a pretty place. ind it (ould work to turn this around for the c~untty and for ~yself and for the benefit of everybody, ritner than just closing another building and havlng it boarded up and people throwing rocks at it and painting grifflti. I do not operate the woy other people do. My type of operation I, that I don't want to make .aney off the people getting drunk. We have put in a cover charge. I wouid rather have a person come in and pay IS to have one drink and tnen go home and I get $10 from the person this way. rather thin having thea ca.e in for free and get fiye drinks for S10, and I have notning but a drunk putting him out onto the street. So thit is what we do. My records for the past two Dr tnree -anths, if we go back to the Police Departaent, I am not sure if J am right or wron99 but I think] have done a better job than previously. I naye lowered the anount of incidents that have been nappening tnere. We have two types of stcurity. We have uniforaed security people who are IDOnitaring the tlut.side, inc' uding the All American parking lot and along Ventura Str~et, a~d a150 our parKing lot. When a person COMeS int~ our parking lot, they 9U~d~ them. They tell tn~ where to go and how to park, and r.ot to park en the residentia1 streets. Also, they give them a little speech to ba~e respect for the 02/09/94 ·16· , , /' neighbors, like not slammi~ their tar doors and not to ~lay loud music. So it seems to .e it is effective. We close the operation It on@ o'clock and we d~ not allow ~nybody to come in after that, and at one o'clock we start ser~1ng free coffee to everyone. We try to bring down the DOad of the club so that people rela~ a little bit and have some coffee. People start going out a few at a tiae. &nd we give tha l~st ~;11 at 1:30 O~ 2 o'clock, instead of turning everybody loose into tke street all at once. We let the people go out slowly. Our exits ire ~ow towa~ the parking lot ratner tban out front. The reason for that is that as th~ people come from tne side door into the pirking lot, they are it I cross ~ilk. if they have their cars parked across the street, then are not jay walking. They are just walking straight where the crosswalk is. We nave tried tkis a few times, and it see~ to be working. Our security guards direct people to the c~sswllk so they won't be jay w.lklng. As far as hUman kaste and all those things are cQnce~ed, ] think those are all being taken care of. Th~te was lack of manlgement, but I ~ave a .anagesent team co"sisting of R~dy Backa and Mrs. Bac~a wh~ ire both directors and officers of the corporation. the new corporation, Crystal Cafe, Inc. I am thE ~resldent and stockholder, and Mr. Backa and Mrs. Backa are tn~re. Mr. Batka is the ~ice president and Mrs. Sacka is tne secretary-treasurer. W~ meet regularly and we talk about how .e are going to tackle these proble.s. We have job descriptions for employees, and we trafn them regularly at each and every level. As far as the hartenders. the waitresses, the door people, the $ec~rity guards, we are on top of that at .11 t;mes. We just don't talk to them once and hope they get ;t. We do it all the tine. To ~$I ~anagement control of the e.ployees is just like a cancer. You can't let it qo. You have to stay on top of it t~ cure it. Wheneyer there is drinking, there are probleas. This is an issue t~at it is here and we have to do the best we can. The WlY [ think the best way we can is to charge I~r!, have cover charges, eliminite thE drunks froa coming in ~nd ~ave better control~ We should be able to notfee if i guy is intoxfcattd and not serve ~lrn any drinks, or if they COle i" intoxicated, not to let thea in. We control our bathrooms, because that is basically where the drug problees ar'!. We have security bouncers going 'n there every fifteen ~inutes to see if eV2rything i$ okay. I am not a person who will tolerate any drugs Dn ay premises. r hav~ spoken with Captain Merson and have told hi. that if I do see anything like this happening on .y turf, I will let hf. know, regardless of the consequences. tither it is i bad .. rk against ~ ~r I good one, [ don't know, but ) ~ going to do this~ We can take care of the prable.s th~t we have ou~selyes, wheth~r it is La Cumbre or the Crystal C,fE. I can do the best thhg I can for the cafe. Outside of that, 1 ~aye nO control. [can eliminate people coming in drunk, trying the best we can~ We do like to .ark with our neighbors. I have met with John Benza and had a l~ngthy conyersati~~ with him. When we C~ out of the premises, in the five ~inutes we were Duts1de. this person came from the direction of the aotel , but he was drunk, came rlght by us and jay wal.ed across [1 Camino. I brought it to his attention that we were not open, were not operating, a~ these things are here. The drunks ire ~ere, but not necessarily our problem. 02/09/94 ·17· ---.-------- / ---(...,--: We hive to l1ve realistically. What;~ happen1n9 here, what we are doing, is that the right dire<:t;on to go in or not? 1 feel I should r.ot be punishe<! for what happened in tile p.st with past operators. Thls Hst of .11 the problems that are here, tl\ey are not m) probl.... My expertise, ~ Pist experlence, the two or three mont~s that r ha~e been here, I t~ink that should speak for itself. This is .y record. I am going to be doing other thinas there. fn tne two·and·,·h,lf month~ r have heen t~ere, I have hid catered ChristMas parties, Silicon Valley. and we just hid a Y.l.ntine party for Piati Re.taurants. They had 125 people there Monday. They had elect .. to come here and have a dance, etc. This is the type of things we are going to be promoting, not Just. nightclub. We would Ii., to start .erving in an outdoor caf, on El Camino in the parking lot, if the Planning Department will .llow it. W. would put out s ... shade tre.s to make !t look like • little garden. Aa I boring you? Cha1 rperson Schmidt; The hOlJr is getting hte, and we probably nave .some questions. Mr. Auaness;,n; I will quit at this point. I ~ave said what r was goir.g to say. BaSically, all the problems you have o~tlined her! •• y last word Is th.t I have tackled .11 of them, and I think I h.ve to'en care of .11 of theM. If JOU see that what [ ~a~e dDne here ts good enough, then please allow ourselves, B~ manageeent tea~, to go on and c~nduct the bUSiness. You can (all us at any time~ As Mr. Weaver said, you have the hammer~ rf we don't do well, ~ou can throw ~s o~t, but at le~st, give us the chance to prove ourselves and give us the chance to conduct the business and save our investment. One of the reasons ] am buying this is because the price Is r1gnt. Tnis is an unfortunate situation for the ex-owners, but 1 feel it is a good Situation for me. Commjss'gner Carra$Go: Since you have taken over the operation, do y~ have live Ilusic? Mr. Ayanes:;1an: hs, [dQ~ I think i1've music versus the recorded music, I WDuld brfng thi~ one thtng to your attention. We haye a lot more control over the live music th~n we do with the recorded ~sic. Live MUSic, you can choese the band, and tne band has only one style, and tney play what yOy war.t~ With recorded ~sic, the dis~ jockey hiS ~is own taste, and you canlt police bim. They play the records that they w3nt. Peop1e will come in witf'l the records they want to play, and it attt'icts younger people for the recorded .ustc t~an It does for a l!ve band. The lfve band has a tendency to bring in older ~eople, at least in th~ Latin ... rket. CQ!!lss1oner Schink: I have three questions, and hopefully. you can answer them very briefly~ What ho~rs do you serve food? Mr. Auane$sfan: We serve food from 8:30 p.~. to 1:30 a.m. COAn!jssloner Schink.: W"nat are your hours Cit' operation? Mr~ Auant$s1an: 8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m~ Commissioner Scnink: And the hours of live music? ~r. Ayanes~jJn: 8;30 p.m. to 1:30 a.R. every night of the week that we D2/09/94 -18- .--~--.-.-----------" \ , I j i. Ire open. · .""," "". " "<>:'~ ~/'J'"_' ,-'--<' C9'li$z'pnrr §la 7 1er: If the yse permit Is withdrawn, are you still ~1red tD buy t~! bus1ness, according to the terms of the agreement with yo"r brothe;"? Mr. AuaDfssfan: Yes. We signed a~ agreewent. The papers that you might •• nt to see 1 to.k to the Oepartmont of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Part of the corporate papers were not available, however, ~ ~aye al~eidy filed with the intent of transfer of the C~Ot Sant~ Clara. T~e p~rchase igree.ent has already been signed and notlr;zed by the ex-owners, .Y brother, and it is .11 being transferred from L'Rilz to lhe Cryst.l C,fe. The ex·moners are no party to this. They are not stockholders and they are no party to t~is n~ trlnsattfon. ~joner Glazjer: s~ what you are saying to ~ ts~ you stand tD lose a SUbstantial a.aunt of money if t~1s is revoked. Mr. AUip..ssian: Yes~ J have already made t~is agreement. CQII1s$ipner 8ee'ham~ How long do you serve alcohoJ? Is it also until 1:30 •.•. 1 Mr. Agan.ssfan: We s~rve alcobol until 1:30, yes. We don't give last cil15~ We do~jt believe in last calls. We just give a coffee time instead~ At one o'c1ock~ we tell them it is coffee time, and we 5erv~ free coffee and inv~te everybody to have so~ coffee at one o'clock. CQlli$sjgncr Beecham: How much alco~ol do you serve between 1;00 and 1:30? Mr. Auanessian: Very little. Maybe SO drinks. COII!scjpner Betcham: So if there were a li.it placed to clvse the bar it one o'clock, that would not have .uch impact on your operation, I would think? Mr. Ayanesshn: Not very Bluch. We sell about SO drirlks. epm.is~ioner ggecharu: On th! noi$e~ have you had & noise cons~ltant C~ in to asSist in determining ~IOW to reduce the noise outside? Mr. Auan 2ss fan: ] haven't, but fro. ~y own experien~e, I have been in the BUsic business and have worked with sound people long enoug~ that] know what the problems are and] can take care of t~em. I believe I nave already taken care of tho.. B"t 1 wo"ld be acre than happy to bring in a sound consul tInt to do it. C_hsjgner Beecham: C!'1 picking up litter~ how far arDund yo~:r fatllity do yO" go to pick "P litter? Mr. Avanessjan: We go as far as Jack in the Box and ~e go down Yent~ra Avenue. We also go across the street, and W~ do t~e All ~rjcan Market, and all along that stretch. Comm1ss1qn!r Beecham: OQ you do thfs after yo~r fatil1ty c10ses at night? 02/09/9~ ·19- ' .. .. .. . . ... , •.. ---..... -~-. Mr. AUine551an: We do it Ifter the facility clos!s it night aro~nd o~r premises. T~e next day. we do everything 1~ the streets. We don't want to have the esplQyees th~re at t~o o~clock cleaning, but thsy come in the n •• t d,y in t~. daytiMe and do it. Commissipner $chink: How many patrons do you typicallY serve in an evening on I week night, and how many O~ a .eekend? ~r Au.nessjan: Typicilly, on a week night, 200. and abo~t 250 to 300 on Fridays and a little bit .. ro, 350 to 400 on Siturdays. Commissioner $ch1nk: How do your gross sales break down ~n a week night? What are your gross sales, and how ~o they break duwn bet~en food and .1 callol? Mr, Autnessian: We operate about 40 percent alcohol, and the rest is fro. otber sources, such as coysr charges, food, that type Df thing. Commissioner $chink: So 40 percent cf your sales is alcohol? Mr. Auang$$jan: 35 to 40 percent. Commissioner $chink: Do yo~ mind if I isk what your gross is weekly? Mr. Auaness1an: At this tiae, W! gros5 close t~ $15,000 a ~~e~. CQRl1s$1onet $chink: And how does t~&t break dawn between week nights and weekends? Met A4lness1an: Roughly. we fig~re about $10 to $12 per pers~n ~ross that we take. We e~.rge $5 to come in, ind t~ey spend $2 Dr $3 fDr food ind they spend about $5 on drinks. CQ!l1ssjoner Sc~jnk: So your annual gross Is about S150,Oor! Mr Ayanessfan: I have only been there two-and-I-half montbs~ And is 1 said, [ am also planning on doir.g otber things, introducing lunches and dinners and the o~tside patiO dining. It is goi~g to be very different fta. 'dhat is there right (lOW. We are in a transition period right now. Those fi9ures cannot really be 9uidelines fer whit is going to hippen tOllOrrow. CQllissjoner Ofaklln: Regardin; on-site parking, how much do you have? Mr. Ayane$sjan~ I haye not rea1'y counted, but I believe it is s~ere around 100 cars, CpmmJss;oner Ojakian: I did not notic! It in the staff report. How about the security guards? Are t~ey there from 8:30 to 1:30? Mr. AuanessjiC: T~ey come in a little later~ Our in-ho~se security gUirdS come in at 8:30, and the unifonood guards come in about 9:30. That I. when the .. sic starts. They basically work on the outside. They work in the parkfng lott the premises and th! streets. T~ey are not inside. We also haye two patrol cars thit they hive to pitrol around t~e .rea so 02/09/94 ·ZO· .------ • , /' they (a~ gtt everywhere faster than just wal~ing. ComMissioner Ojak;an: How ~ny guards inside the club? Mr. Allanesst.n: Three. C9mmi$$;Dn~iln: And how .ani outside? "r. Ayanessian: Five. CQlmjssioner Qiak1an! That 1ncludes the people wna ire driving the cars? Mr. Auanessian: Yes. Cpmmissioner Cassel: Approximately ~ow .any people are in t~e site on a weekend at one o'clock in the MOrning? Mr. Auanessian: Generally. you .ight say about 50 to 6~ percent of the people. depending upon Ue night. Commissioner Cassel: So you have about J50 people there at one a1clock in the aornirtg"~ Mr. AU3ness~; On the weekends. Cgemis$jpner Bttcham: 00 you have any fonmal agreement with the All A.er1can regarding parking? ftr. Aqanessjin! No, [don't. [have not had any problem with them. They have ftot raised lny issues. We clean their parkfng lot, and we do not have any preble. with thea. T~ey ha¥en't said to me. don't do it. Chairpersqn Schmtdt: Do you expect an~ seasDnality te the crowds there? You have been operat1ng over Chri$tmas and January. Those aight be quieter ti.es. Would you expect larger crowds in the su..ertime? Mr. Auanessian: No, J don't expect larger crowds ift the sUMm2rtiDe. t~1nk the crowd will be about the same. We might see crowds cooing in liter. [n the summertime, people don't 9G out until 1t gets dark. Nine or ten o'clock is when they st,art ca.ing In. They ltay want to stay later, but our operation is not 90ing tQ change. We aTe g~ing to stop the sale of 11co~1 at one o'clock and try to get the people out, as few is possible at a t1~, so we don't have I big BaSS of people coaing out. I don't see t~at muc~ difference betweea Su.meT and now. Obviousl~, there is some difference, because in the s~rtime, people probably are going to want to hang around a little more tha~ i~ th~ wintertime. I have to take ~asure$ to have control ower that. ChaitptrsoQ $ch-idt: On I busy weekend pvening, do people stand outside in groups? If tnere aTe 4DO people inside, are there SO or lOa people Dutside It a 9f~en time? 00 they go outside during band or .usic breaks? Mr. Auanesslan: No, we do not kave in-and·out prf~ileges. Once they co.e , •• t~at is it. If they go out. they have t. pay to c ... back in. In the past. that was the practice there, but that is n~ longer the case. If they hilve to lUice uergellCY calls, we provide telephones for theIR, since 02(09(94 -21- . ~' .. .;.. .. , "-,,;;--, I' ---'-- we do not have a. publ ic phone at Uds time. We provide OiJT own phone fur their ~S!. We have I strict dreis code, and we do not have people han9fng around outside. 'ommis$iqner G1jlier: What:$ the rated capatity of your facility? Mr. Auanessian: I believe that for dining , it is about 200. For the niihtclub operation, the fire department .easures that as 15 sQuar~ feet per person If they are Sitting. and 1-1/2 square f.et of the empty spa,e. 1f there fs a danca floor. I have not quite measured it to see what that figure is, but I believe is should be somewhere around SOO. Cgpmiss10ntr $chink: Vou gave ee your sales figures while you a~ operating the bUsiness. Can you tel1 me what the 5Ales figures were for last year? Mr. ANanesstln: Considerably bigher. The~ were about Qne-and-z-half tiDeS is much. T~ey were doing close to Sl5 f OOO pet week, and we are doing about $15.000 ...... COlliss1oner $chinK: You ire buying the business. Yo~ ~st have a good Idea. Old they do $1.lOO.OOO In 5.les? Mr. Auane$$)an: That i! p~ob~bly what they wey~ doing. Commissjoner $chink; And how is that broken down between food ind alcohol? Mr· AuJnessian: I don't know. 1 didn't get those fi9ures~ 1 just yot ge"eral~y what their income was. 'QII1ss1pner Scnink; You are purc~asing the ~siness, and )OU didn't look at the U18S? Mr. AU'nessian: No. because what the other people did. ! am not .11 that interested In. I am going to do -.y own things. If they made money just selling alcohol. tbat doesn't .ean that J have to do the same thing. I feel there are other •• ys of •• rni09 money for the club. sellin9 food and having doer chaTges. CQlmjssjongr Schink: r understand. S~ you then did not look it the figures and Ire not ,ware of what the prewious saTes were. Mr. Ayane}si)n: No. As 1 said, 1 am not i~terested in their operation. I would like to introduce the other directors of the corporation. Mr. Rudy Backa is the manager who is there every d~t seven days a week, .are than ten hours a day. Cbajrperson Schmidt: Is there anything you want to add? ihe hour Is Quite late. 8[. Auangssian: What r would like to add at this tlme is to please not judge .. by what has happened in lhe past. My operation is quite different fro. what It was in the past, I am 901n9 I" a different direction, I a. sincere j and 1 have a good team that is COmMitted to work 02/09/94 -22· .-~-... -- • ",;-' , ~ " 'j 'I i 1 I ~ , " with .e~ and [ wo~'d like to ask you to 9i~~ me the chan,~ to ga eh!ad. Jobn Benzl, 3745 La Selva Drive. Palo Alto: I dG have the privilege ~f saying Good Morn:ng, unfortunatel)~ d~n/t kno~ if you are I! confused about this is I am as to who actually owns the ptemis~s at t~fs current point in ti~. It $o~nds like Donis client is the actual owner. It appears that Oon~s client, Harry, 15 the current owner ~f this, and therefare, in ~ mind, the comments or t~sti~~y of Art are reall1 out of order i~ the sense that he is not the current owner. His paperworx has not been filed sufficiently to reflect the tranifer of this property, but that being said and all the suspicious ~ature of that said trinsfer, I ~ope you are Questioning t~e credibility of such I transaction, as 1 ~rsonill, a., n~ mo~e than 1 was on Sit~rdlY ~hen I met them. Clearly~ Don denies any accountabi1itj or responsibility from the pri~r owner Issoc~lted with the said proble.s, whitn as you can tell, infuriites me to no end. Ar~. on the other hand, is .ill1ng to acknowledge ill cf the possible problems. as reported in the documentatiDn, and is willingly taking actions to correct said proble~s. So it really concerns me. Honetheles!, ] did come wit~ a set of prepared t~nts t~ hopef~ily expedite R,r cOUlDE'nts. I want to start by saying that despite the' issuts tnat we are here tonight to discuss, 8arr~n Park residential properties cont~~~e to be in high demand~ Our p1ctoresque neighborhood is ideal for raising f&milies. Our parts and recreation facilities are second to none in the ca..untty, and property ~alues continue to rise. H~ renovation and Major (onstruction is continuing to go strong in Barron Park. Our nei9~borhood association, the Barron Park Association, and a sister organilatiQn~ the Ventura Neighborhood Association, ~epresent well over ] ,.cQQ (ulilies and is a posithe tnfl uence not only in Barrorl Park biJt throughout the City of Palo Alto. 1 UIOW. first hand. because J am one of Barren Park's newest owners. It took ~ six months to find t~1s house. six months of loc~ing in Pale Alto, and I founrl it i~ Barron Park. 1 want to thank you for keepIng this a good city. and I hope you do what is right here tonight. Unfort~nately, the business at hand tonight is not a pleasant ane, and it does require your interattlon to solve this. Shortly after moving here. I became ac~tely aware of the prDblems emanating frOG the La Cumbre bar. and let's call it that. r don't accept ·restauTint-as a tit1e for it. J got involved quickly and hu~g in t~ere. Hiving MOved from the New York area, I know first nand that problems, left unchecxed, fester. and you end up beyond the ability to control them. We have seen that in the last year. Tne police st~tistic5 support that. If this goes unchec<ed. it .ill eventu,11y drain the life blood of the cosaonity, That life blood is the atmospheriC appeal for peoplt like ~ whD ~ant to move ir. there. ~y involvement with tne B~rro" Park Association and the Palo Alto Po, ice Department is two·fold. first, 1 part1c'pated ~n two ridealon9s, and tin pers~nally testify that 1 saw two instances emanating from La Cumbre whic~ re$uited in fights. We co~ld look up the dates if we need to. In addition to that, some of my efforts have led to tne formation of what we call the Community and Bcsiness Relations tOimittee of the Barron Park Associat~on. This is a new Drgin~zation started in January of this year. As chainma~ willing to stand up and tak. t~.t positIon. my objective. are three-fold. One is to understand. document and ca.mun~cate 1ss~es and concerns resulting from business opentions illong E1 Camino Rea' in Barron Park. typically from around Page Mill Road to Arastr.dero Road, Secondly. I seek to oork oith OZ/09/94 -13- .. ' .. loca' busir'lesses to resolve the issues while fostering go~ will. I can report s~ccesses in that area. f~nal1y, our long-term goal is to develop partnershipi with you, the government agencies, ~Y~inesses and deve10pers to revitalize [1 Carnino Real with businesses. and tnis is important. t~at Ire Co=pilible and complementillry with the residential com."IIur.ity. Of particular concerr. to me is ~ SOO-f~t rectangle. Witkin this rectangle, there are t~o bars, one of ~it~ is La Combre, two liquor stores 50 feet from one anot~er, two fast food restaurants and three ,ub,idlz<d motel, with day rates below $35. When you combine .11 that 5t~ff in SOO rectanq~lar feet, j am surprised 1 moved here, to be honest with you. I had not thought it ~as a ~roblem. J, like many of you, probabl, drive past tnat section every day. and I had n~ idea. The co.binatlcn of these b~s1ne$ses in sucn 'lose proximity to another has cul.fnated in i year of unprecedented, and J repeat, u~precedented crime. During the period of Augu,t, 1992 through August, 1993, I ~ill tell you statistics other tkan Mr. Tenenbaum has represented~ These stitfstfcs cone from tho Pllo Alto Police Department, wnom Mark himself has provi1ed through JonI') Joynt of the Barl"D!l Park Association. mere has been a record of 263 calls in that ~OO-foot roctangl.. Only one of those is La Cusbre. I am not attributing all 263 calls for service to that one est.blishment. We do ha" the detailed breakout of th.t. 1 would raise a question to you all for pondering. What is the cost~ per call, to ttle City of Palo Alto for service? ~at would be the effect of that? I .. going to read you i few ~re statistics on those calls. I know it is l.te. 26 ~rcent of those 260 calls 1"vo'~ed assault Dr battery, .s re90rted by t~e police categorization of problems. 24 percent involved large groups or unruly conduct. [_ill ~dm'tt as Mr. Te~enbaum stated in the hearing, that I cannot attribute everyone of these e.l1. to the La CUMbra Restauraf1t. I am not, in this instance, implying Qr ins1nuatlrlg th.t all these emanated frOR there. But there is • real problem in this rectangle. One of the aijor contributors ~s La Cumbre. 20 percent of the calls involved alcohol or drug-related charges. Here is a very i~ortant statistic that you may .ant to not., When yeu go back and think about if you allow t~em to continue wit~ ,"estrictionL The important hctor is that 77 percent of the 263 calls occurred after 11 p.m .• and 65 ofter 12 p... You take that 77 percent of 263 calls and multiply it by the cost per service call for the Police Department I and you have found yourself a whole lot of money. Having seen t~e det1ril, and I am not sure why Don Mas not, I can assure this board that these are not the a~tions nor the be~avior of local reSidents. My wife and] do not behave liKe this. I would suspect ttl at ~ny of my peers ind many of you peer residents do not behave like t~is. As tbe off1c1a1 staff report states, many of these problems were the direct result gf mismanagBment. The proposed new owner acknowledges that~ His ~onsultant ackn~ledges that right before you here tonight. The prior owner's representative denies all of that. I apologize, Doni for shouting out before about the 5ituation the night before when .e met Harry in our cO>munity .~eti"q, but that wa. the night th,t we had the 150 peeple, with five going to the h~spital. My concern in that is of the 84 ~al1s that were reported during that period of August to August, I am surprised that wnen in September, we meet with the owner, his comment was that he was unaware that there were problems it his club. That may be absentee ow~ershipi ~~t that is also irresponsibility, That;s also a reflection. What I would like to say is that I would alaost demand, I 02/09/94 ·14· --.::',---.---~'-~ \ don't have t~r authority accountability fo~ tnil . • ~countlb'lily, · " to demand that of you, but I would like to d~mand This transaction is a ~ery easy iyoidloce of Based on the e~ider.ce docu~nted in tne stlff report, I believe La (umbre repr~sents I ,leaT and present danger to the community. 1 believ2 that the penait revocation was justlfitd, and the facts s~pport it. I belfev! that aR1 ~ther less restrictive action ~as not .erited nor earned by the owner or the result of the manngementls action. J Isk the board to upnold this decfsion, recogni11Rg their fr.ability to correct the ~roblems and sensing strong coanunit1 outer,." against this, as eVidenced by tl1e petition tnat I trust you have seen, 148 signatures, and that was on ~ne we~k's notice prior to the Planning Commission that we circulated that petitjon~ It is in your packets. T~e current owner of La tum~re is sel1ing th~ ~usi~e$s to his brother, Ari. I will tell JOU that I ~t with Ari and foynd him tc be a sincere, ptrsonil busin&ss .an. I think mu,h of .~at he said tonight 15 from ~f5 heart, but I ilsc believed th~t of Harry when he indicated in our Septe~r meeting th~t now t~at he was aware of t~e probl em. he. ~(t,.~.1 d tak.e act f on. I would ~~ the board not ta be distracted by this eleventh ~our tactic, While ATl .'Y seek I different approach, these action~ come fir too late and do not include tne Iccountability that we need here. Ali of their proposed chan9~s are purely voluntary and ~nenforceabTe by the city. Vhtle I wou1d like to believe that this will work, tne past year has made Be far too cautious to trust on words alonf. Neither Harry, Arl, their managers, thefr attarneyss their cons~ltants nor their patrons, if you look at the details of the police records, reslde in Pilo Alto. If equity invest.ents alone were s~fficient to prevent us from meeting ~ere tonigbt at 12:30 in the -arning, tnen we would not be here. Equity fnvestments alone are ~ot sufficient .ativltfon to do this, for I b~si"ess to be run properly. 0" behalf of the 148 people who signed thaI petition_ I urge the board to uphold the revecat i on of the permi t . Let I $ put U.e past year beni~ us, as Ari said, ind _ork together to attract businesses tnat ire coapatible and complementary to our neighborhood. In tkis cas!. I honestly believe that the bird in the bosh is prob.bly better than the one in the ha~. Yo~r support tonight will go a long _ays toward boosting the morale of the communit, and starting us down t~e road of rejuvenating El Camino Real and South Palo Alto. I will personally commit my efforts, my Itrength, my emotiGns and m) passion to work with you to fix this rectallgle, H YOli will, on El Camino Peal. One of the major cornerstones of that rectangle 15 the La Cumbre Restaurant under its pri~t manager and current owner~ Thank you. CQ!!iss1Qner Glazier: As someone who is vfry close to this fssue, obviously, it would be inter~sting to hear your perspective on some of tne changes tnat have taken place. There has been a lot represented that has happened since September in terms of security QUirds J changing the focus of the cl ub, etc. As someone who 11'Jes c,lose by and is very close to this, have you seen~ in fact, that tneS! things have tike~ place as ca..itted? If, for whatever reason and with whatever ownership structure, have the commitments that have bee~ ~de been lived up to? Mr. Scnza: I have not gone down the list of 18, one by one. I did meet wtth Arf and Jfm Weaver, the proposed new owner of the club, this past Saturday. J did witness some of tne items that they have indicated. Tney 02/09/94 -IS· !! l: " have aad~ some lItDdif1ci!ticns to the ceil trig y~nti1at;on to remove possible arg.s where sound could go through the roof out to the ~eighborhoo~. I did w1t~ess sound boards put on the doers. They indicited~ but I had no evld'eTice, that they ha4 relilO""ed sevenl spea1<.ers from the cl\Jb. It ; s a beaut1f~1 facilitJ f~ a str~ctural, physical perspecti~e. ] wis~ the prior owner had taken corrective aetlon. Comm1SS~QDPt Glazier: Is it your belief that· since this S~ptember, the i~ar.t on the community is less than it ~as prior to September? Nr &gnlf: ] .ade I coup1e of C~"ts en that, and [ Ippreciat~ the ql.lest1on .as a rettinder. I would urge you not to be nlisled by stathtks alone relative to t~e nu~bet cf tal1s. ]f you trite back (and Mark is very adept at doing this], if you trace back~ you ~an get those call~ not only by date but by ti .. of day. You will see • curve that reflects the s~rt;me. It really just got out of hand. I thin. th.t is what prompted us to eventua11y end up here. I haven't witnessed, first hand, since I liY~ on the other side of [1 CaRino, the changes that they have mentioned. I will tell you th.t I otcisionally rent cars from Hertz on Arastr.adero Road to go to aP\d fr'o frOll: the airp{lrt on business trips, and I walt to Hertz. As far as the !id~ of the street across fr~ La tumbre, [ would find it hard to bel I_ve that t~ey are cl •• ning up the litter the~. That is one Df ~y other projects .ith one of the fist food ~$tlurants, to get them to expand beyond their property lines for some of the wrappers, t~ings like that. ] think another pOint that you have mentfon~d, and Tony VIS very adept at bringing this out, they have been playing live music, and they continue to plan to plaJ live musfc~ despite whatever it S~$ in th~ use permit. Pleas! don't be inti.idated against action becluse they have been dofn9 it for a number of years or -matever. A .iolation of th~ law remains a Yiolation of toe law. All that we need for the liW to continue to be brOKen is for a few good people to do nothing. Intoxication of patrons: let me just clution you, as J am s~rE aany of you know, working w1t~ various restaurants before you, that only ti .. and your liver gets rid Df alcohol in your body. Selling alcohol at 1:30 and then pu.ping coffee into people does not reduce intOXication. Only time dces. ]f yo~ are cO~5idering a restriction on the sale of a1cohol, t~e r would consider maybe aro~nd 12 p.~. Tnat a150 will coincide with the two liquor stores atross the street that have agreed to voluntarily mo~e their hours from 12 p.~. to i1 p.m. Tnis triangle fs of i~ortance. It warrants looking into at a later date, pOSSibly, for an earlier hour~ beca~se what you will find is th@t you can visibly watch patrons depart La Cuabre, ~alk across the street~ buy the liquQr~ go to their car, and return to t~e club. When the cl~b closeSt they 90 out to the car~ partfcularly in tt;e summer, which is why you can't be ccnfused with the statistics. and then they party in their cars. The other point, a~d I apOlogize for rambling on here, is tnat if there Ire 400 patrons, but 100 cars, t~it is one hell of a success story in c~r pooling, and we QU9ht to advertise that. ] wll1 tell you, When I was a l!ttle younger and J did the bar scene myself. ] usually went alone. So we need to learn tneir secret here and st.rt ~ellin9 It to businesses, because this is pheno.enal. One last comment, Don. I would be very cautIous about advocating that the ABC has not be.n in there and sanctioning. I am not sure that they are fully aware of th:e current proceedings. I have always lived by the expression, Be careful of what you ask for, beeau._ I hope they show up. Thank you. 02/09/94 ·26· • 'c--. Bob Mo~O Orme. Palo Al~: Good mornin9~ Madam Chairman and coamissioners. I am really sorry to be saying good morning. Due to the filibustering of t~e appellants, I am forced tQ speak ~t this late hour. I would like to touch on I few things from the perspective of someone who 15 familiar with that property for ~re than 20 years. First of all, ~ n~r of people have occ~pied that prop!rty. No occup~nt has ever been as abtrusive and as obnox1ous and IS auch of I clear Ind present danger to the hea1tht safety and sanctity of our comm~nitJ as ta tumbre, without a doubt, b~ several orders of ma9nitude. The state.ent that Mr. Te"e~baum ~ad! about l;~e music being played by previous occupants is a cla;., an allegation, and ~as absolutely no support in fact. As. matter of fact, in the early 1970s, that buildin9 was occupied by a poker club, a card club, similar to the Cameo Club. I dtd nappen to go in tnere on a couple of occa~ions, and they did not have l1Ye MU~1c. The fact that they continue to ~ave l1ye music in clear violation of the use permit is an example of t~eir profligate ilap fn the face af th! City of Palo Alto and our laws and our community. I think they ought to get slapped bat.. ! toink you should lift the us. permit, put them out of bu~iness completely, and then, let's negDtiate. What we are being asked to d~ is the same thing the Bosnian Serbs are asking the NATO countries to do. let's tal«, and .aybe we won~t kill anybody for a 11 tt 1 ~ .mil •. Let's tall about a few of t~e specifics. On September 12th, ve had that neighborhood meeting, and Mr~ Tenenbaum was there, and so were the owners. They said they were nat aware of an~ particular problems and t~ey d~dnJt think there was a~tbi~g going on. We didn't find Dut ~ntfl almost ten d~$ later (of course, Captain Merson knew it at that time but we didn't) that there had been I riot emanating f~om La Cuabre early that .arn1ng. They denied it. And tonight, Hr. Tenenbaum again denied it. fs he totally ignorant Q~ facts? Or does be fail to want to recognfze them. There are only three reasons for denying t~at they have a probl~. One, they don't want to recognize that they hav! I problem~ in which case, we cannot possibly work with t~ea~ because how (an th~y solve a problem if they don't know it exists or a,knowledge it~ T~e second is total ignorance. and I don't want to work ~itn people who are that ignorant, becau,e they cannot be cured. The third is th,t they are liars. If they are liars~ hDw can we ha~e any faith in anything they promise ~s to do in the future? Three strikes, baby. you're out. I would like to cOIRent on the remarkable coincidence Df drunks who see. to rain down from the sky with no connection to La Cumbre, but weren't the .... before they occupied the site. [snit this a remarkable-pheTIMenon? It is very much like the frogs that rained dawn from a cloud in the sky, but it turns out they were ~icked ~p by a tornado. So where is the tornado coming from that is raining t~ese drunks down on £1 Cimino rig~t alongsfde La Cumbre? Amazing .eteorological phenomenon. Mr. Tenenbaum would like us to believe tnat If the patrons are arrested ~utside of th! club, that is not a problem. fn fact. it is more of a problem for the neighborhood, because these people, who are $0 dangerous that even the police fear th.m, are nON in t~e neighborhood where they h,ve to be apprenended and arrested. I would rather they kept their combatants inside t~e club and not spi11 them over ont~ the innoce~t people in the neighborhood. 02/09/94 -27- \ • As fDr the c11ente'~~ that lS something we cannot enforce by any regulitions~ If they SiY they are going to change their ~nvironment bi what they are try1ng te do to attract to1s type or that type of crowd, that is not enforceable. As t~ the ridiculous statement that it ;s easier to control live mU5ic tnan recorded music, you ~aye only tbe e~ample of our .... rvelous Dpportunitfes to cant.ral Sh~re'fne Amphitheater. The fact tnat the ABC bas not put them out of business is reilly an indictment of the ABC~ As everyone knows or should know, they are 9~ssly understaffed, and therefore) the .ere fact that they d~n/t have !r!ough agents to go in. f1~d the violations .~ich obviously occur, and put them out of business is no credit to La Cumbr •. The pouib1e cost to the new 'OW'i1'i!r of Ji rellC'CCltion of the us~ permit wa.s oby~oaslJ take~ intG account when he purchased t~e property. If it wasn't, he h a lousy blisin&:$sm4n. In any regird', that is not our iffair. What is i~ortant to us is not to preser~~ his profit nor his brother's profit. but it is to make sure that our community is safe and our people are safe, and we don't have I lot of people who are either drunk and dr1y1ng drunk or who are riotous a~ Ire creat'R9 prDblems. When we h~ve a riot (and it was a riot) which requlres police frorn Palo Alto, los Alt~s, Mountain View, the highway patrol and Stanford to shut down, and that has happened more than once in tne last year plus, we don't need thaL We have a serious, serious prob'(e!Il. Mr. Tenenbaum sa.ys we have no problem. Strange. What is important Is the cost to the residents ind t~e cost to the co.munity. That is t~e only cost you should be weighing. I think tne course is quite clear, and you really onl1 have one va.lid action, to yailx the use perait and shut them down. As for tne reduction in activity, there are occasionally Planning Co..ission meetings and City Council meetings last well into the .orning. s. 1 have dr1yen by la CUSbr. around midnight, and most of t~e time the last couple of gonths, they haYe be.n closed. If the bu1lding i. closed. it is a little bit difficult to haye quite as .,ny police calls. [think that Is an admirable ~ay. We should haye it closed ~re often. In suno,tion, [ would ask that you uphold the Zoning Administrator and allow our police officeri to do something more us!f~l and pull their permit. Thank you. liarh Gillmore,. 340 ventura AvemuL Palo Alto: I live just a hi' f block down from La Cumbre. J was up there two weeks ago on Saturday night and spoke to Dennis, one of the security g~ards, and also spoke to Rudy, who wa$ I bit defensive at De be,nq there. I ~a~ with t~o ~t~et people, a.nd I was walling ~ dog. It was 10:15, and tne one security guard on Venturd had a flashlight, and he was waving cars in. But the tars that didn't .ant to go in J"st stepped on the ga. and kept stra1ght down Ventura 'nd went to the l1ght at the court. It .as .1aost 1n defiance to their security guard, and I don't blame tn! poor guard. ~e can't go out into the street and step the traffic. The guard in front, whose name was Dennis, 1 asked hi~, wnat kind of music was being played, and he told me it was salsa music. J said is this trop1cal jazz. because we had gotten this letter in December. He said no, it is salsa music~ and it was very good live music. sa why dittn't I go in? I am Tn ~ sweats w1tn the dog on the leas~. r am wondering about this dress code that they are talkin9 about. My dog did have his collar 02/09/94 ·28· "'<:.~-.~--..... -------- < , / on. WhEn I asked what is the coveT charge, h! said~ well it is 55 for Mn, but ladies are fru. So where is the cover char-ge th_t they are inCrea.sin9 to get 1: difhrent type o.f iJ!!',nple in thert? There were ~OU~ people gQing in in 311 kinds of dress. Jt isn't the age of the people goin9' in. I thinK it is more that they come out when La CUGbre closes, and like John said, they go and b~y their a1c6hol. The noise fr~ La Cumbre, the music itself, is not ~s bad to our stree~ as it Is when t~e:se people c.ae 04.lt~ go to ttl.;!; r cars to party wi th the beer they have bought and the alcohol. and the t,co, and tne hamburgers, and have these parties with the boom boxes going rig~t in front of our hGuses, and then lea~e. and leiwe all tne debris. There were DRly two security guards there t~at njght~ ] ~ave not S2en anybody driving around in a Sp.curit, car, and I have been out there all times of the night, trying to see what k1nd of security they have. As far as cleaning up the street, they aren't getting \'ery far past the;r C'WT1 prDperty line. because every Saturday and Sunday rooming, there is 3 mess out in front ~f our places that WE are cleaning up. I do~'t see ~ere they ~a~e done anythi~g that they promised to do. We have gotten nothing but talk from them. They have do!'!e not one thing to cQoperate .,itt» us. Tr.e.)' are not a good neighbor. T~ey really are creating havoc i~ our neighborhood with their total disrega~d for laws, for the live music issue, for everything, They just don't seem to e~en want to cQ<lperate there. Hr, Auanessfan seems to feel t~at he is being punished fOT taking this Qn~ We are getting punished for li~ing in the ~eighborhood. As a property owner a~d tax payer, I resent that I am paying to ha~e the whole Police Oepartment. -mich i tnink is ~ine personnel from Kldni9nt to e in the mornin9~ at .Y corner e~ery weekend. J should feel safe~ I guess. but I resent it that they are allan our block, I really strongly urge that you follow the Zoning ~1~istrator's rec~ndation to shut down La Cumbre and take their litense iway, Clara Sharpless. 777 La para. Palo Alto: r tn~n~ the only time I eyer ca.e to the Palo Alto Plannfng Commission is when we are talking about ~l C .. i"o. I would like to recommend that you revoke the La C"lbre .se penoit, Just this last .eek. I .as comiog home about 10:15 at "ight. ~alking down the street was I very attractive young man who had on an overcoat, ~c shoes, and he had fallen down rignt on the street. I had to step on ~y brake. Then~ when he fell down, he got ~p again, and tnen there were a couple of houses further down, and he was he~dfng for them. [f you will check the police ~epo~t. J called 911. and they said they would go out and take care of the situitio~. This is the kind of el~nt that 15 coming off of El C~ino into Barron Park, ThE busi"ESSeS llke La Cuabre a~ other businesses like card rooms and massage parlors (J have been aro1.lnd that long) just were an element on [1 Camino that were n<lt uplifting to ~ur neignborhood. I would request that yOu re~oke their use pe""lt. Wjll Beckett. 4189 Ba~!1" Ayenue. Palo A1tc; I IA here !"epresentirl9 the board of the Sarron Park Association firstt and then I will make some peTson.1 cDnOents. Offi'i.1Iy, the board st111 fe.ls unanieo.sly th.t you should uphold the Zoning Administrator's reco~ndit;on not to continue this use permit for La Cumbre, and to deny his appeal. I am i fairly trust1n9 person, as some of you may know. I tend t~ like to try and work with the bird in the hind. 1n this case, 1 have to say. just 02/09/94 -29- liste~in9 tonight, ~hat I have grown ~re ahd more agitated. We had the ~etfng on S~ptember 12th, and heard from the owner t~at things were going to be corrected and t~at he was unaware of th~se problems. At that time, as Bob Mo$~ lndicated, we had no idea ~f what had happened a fe~ hours earl'er. lhts was my first hint that I wondere6 whether t~is ~as somebod) we could trust, a family life could trust. Happy ~ou~. if I remember right, la Cuabre opentd at 9 o'clock before this. I don't know of any happy hour that is It 9 o'clock. What I am reading to you are things I have under the heading. ~Trust.~ I have lest mJ trust for th,s who1~ arganizitian, I donrt feel that: can trust them to listen to what we have to say and to do it oyer a long ~riod of time and ensure safety in the neighborhood. Far one year, they nad Ute opportunity to correct i situation that was po\nted out by t~e ~o1ict Oepartr.~nt. That did not happen unti1 the threat of the use permit tame up. The new owner~ change of owner within tbe fami]~. sounds a little shak~ to .... It is j"st one of the things that Is adding to this that makes no feel v~ry uncomfortable. lette~s from the Police OepartDent were not necessarily wc~king with what was going on~ If I remember the gist of the letters. They wn9 "When are you gOing to fix th1s?" and the~ continued over ar.d over again wit~out things g~tting torrected until ~ started getting ourselves fnYolv!d as a coamun1ty with this effort. The liY~ .usfc and the fact that th~y c9ntinued to say, despite the fact that the ~se penwft £iYS they cannat "ave live ~~ic, we are going to continue to do it because that is what we have been doing. This 1apression that they dan't cause problems, it seems to ae, is a preble.. If they. i" fact, ~re community, residentfal, responsible people within our neighborhood, they would be rec09o'z;ng the fact that they need to .. rk not just ~ith thems.1ves and with the neighbors but with the other ~Slne$s.s in tho n.ighborhood to try and correct this problem. It is not just our probl~; it is not just their probiem; it ;s Dur ccllective problem, and they don't sp.em to be wi11ing to recognize this. Tbis concerns me. Tbts~ agai~, gives me this feeling that I cannot trust what Is being sald. I was a little bit confused, beca",e, like John. I received a phone call asking John to Deet with the owner because I was ~nable to, getting this eall saying, I am tne n~ own~r of La Cumbre and I would like tc ~et ~ith you. At that time, based on whit I am hearing, the paperwork is not complete yet and there really is no new owners~ip. I am very confused by this whole thing. It just adds to .1 feeling that this is not somebody .. can trust to do this. So 1 would urge privately as a ~esident the S~ thing I urged as the Presid~r.t of the Barron Pa~k Association, that we pull this ~sa permit and not allow the. t~ operate. Thank yOY. penny pgtrgsian. 443 venturi A~enui, Pilo Alto: Just one hou$eK~eplng 1tem. J n~t1ce that t~is is scheduled for the ag~nda of february 22, along with the Matadcr.o Creek item and lIdt" the Alexis Orive itell. Please p~l LI Cumbre on I diff!rent age~da so that we are not here at the very end Iga if!. • I really want to come back to someone ~o asked t~e question about police costs~ How .uch are we spending on pol ice WOT(? 1 th;~k we really should know this, because I think thfs is really critical for your finding of a compelling reason. Police who are on this corner are not in other areas 02/09/94 -30- '. of town whert they may be needed for cri tical iitss~gnments. lih th our dwindling city budget. I thin~ that is ,1so I compelling reason, not to .ention the saftty of life and limb of people who live ;0 the •• 19hborhood. 1 also need to sa~ that I live three bu11dingl away from La tumbre, and 1 live very close to where Maria 1 h'es. ! hue 1; ved thE-reo for just alxiut 20 years, and haye been with this establishment for th~t 10ng. ~hen it was first called El Rancho. There ha~ never been any justif7cation all those years for liYe IUs1c. It ~as n~t been Quiet u~t;l just this year, as far as live .usic goes. T~ere have been constant complafnts of t~e noise. Bob's mention of Shore,,"e ~kitheateT ~as been very ap~opos. How can you control live .us1c within just a few feet tf yo~ cannot control it when it i; miles and miles away from your town. It just doesn't make s!nst to hive li~t RUsic right up against where penp1e 1ive. I need to SlY t~at [ felt sa.ewhat of a siur cominq from the counsel for the appellant when he first started describing La Cwabre and where it was and that tnt closest n!lgnbars were JrJltl-unit complexes w1th the implicatio~ that somehow, that doesnJt count. The~e are a lot of renters ~ho 'i~e very close to La C~re, and I Ma~pen to feel that J count and my family count~ and .Y neighbors count! who are also renters. We have been 1;~ing with this for all this timet and we bear the major bru~t of it. There iTe several ti~s when I have woken up in tne morning at 3 o'clGC~ or later and neard a lot of noise outSide ~ bui1ding. I have frankly been scared of t~e noise and the sounds that were coming in. I don't like to fee1 that [ cannot feel safe in my neighborhood. [feel very safe going out at 3 in the morning if I hive to, whether or not all of these people fro. out of town "0 90 to La C~re. I don't see cars par~ed up and down Ventura, people getting in and out of the~. t~at I ~now do not live there. I don't think that fs a situation tnat we can tolerate, niving all tMes~ cars all the way down Ventura to Park Boulevard. because that is what happens when Lo C .. bre is open. That is not okay. I don't see that this establishaent cln ope~ate ~ithout tnat overflow parking. If they cannot cantafn their parking within their parking iot up on El Camino, then no busfness deserves to be t~ere that cannot contain their parking. So I urge ~ to do your duty tonight, as you would dQ for any otner nefgnborhood !n t~t and revoke tne license of this establisrnnent. Commissioner Cassel: Den~YI I WQuld like you to answer the specific (!'uestiorl thit we have been ask'ng of other people who live in that neighborhood. Is t~ere I differenct in the n~rnber of incidents of unacceptable nuisance behavior that you have hid before~ and is there a differen,e in the amount of trish that is on yo~r str~et? "5. Pgtrgiiin: The trash I am not that aware of, but tne parki~ still goes down Ventijra Avenue. It is a real ~uisance. As far as ~aking up at 3 in the morning. r Gan1t remember if [ have woken up at 3 in tne :loming in the last couple of months. I wDuld not be able to give you the ti~ lin<. tOllissicner Cas$e'~ a llttl~ better t~." It happens to be. So the neise, at least during the winter montns~ is it ~as 1n the summer, wh1c~ tou14 be whatever fa~tor ~s. Petrcsian: J cannot give you ar.y informat;on. becduse I don't think tbat .~. Just, you kna-' -- 02/09/94 .\ / ..,1 ill' _____ ~. __ •• "'.'" Chajrperson Schmidt: Denny. I bave iI: qtJestion for you. a.lso. I believe you $a~d tr.at there was live mUSlC provided by some of the owners of tne club over the last some y€ars. Do you know that? ~s. Petrositn: [don't know for a fact that prior to this ownership that there WilS, in fact, live mYsic. ram tilking about music. Period. If you ~ave 1 lVE IlUstc, it is cle-arly Il\Uch harder to control Ulan recordtd musIc. That Is clear. Chairperson Scbmidt: Seeing no other speakers. I will cTose t~e public portian of the hearing and bring it back to the commissian. Mr, CaJonne: Could I make a suggestion that the commission reserve its opportunity to reopen the publiC hearing jf the discussion s~ggests that 1S warranted. Ther! were I number of issues raisfd on which staff Qr police m~y wish to submit further evidence. There may be issues raised O~ which the applicant ~ight want to submit further Evidence. [~not suggesting leaving 1t open new, but just res!rving the opportunity to do that. Chairperson SCh~1dt~ Do we vote on that or just ma~e i statement to that effect? Hr-(alonne: If the~ is no objection from the eommission, if your order reflects that, that '5 suff;ci~nt. If your order to close the public hearing reserves the right to reopen, that is okay. Chairpersgn Schajg;: Tne~ I will close t~e public hearing but I reserve the right to reopgn it if there ;s ldditi~nll evidence provided by staff Dr ~pp~llant. (The commission nods in a9r~ntJ Would anyone like to continue this to another evening? topmis5jpner 01a~: 1 haYe a coup1e of questions I want to .SK the appellant and the Police Deparboent. Beyond that, I .. prepared to discuss t~fs item and make a motion. I would prefer that we de our busines~ tonight and nat contfnue this iteA. The first Question I have is for the appellant's cQ~nsel, Mr. Tenenbaum. You nave indicated that, to your knowledge, th:ere has been 1 ive music played at this particular site in the past. Mr. TenenbaUM: That fs the information that was given me by my client. was retained in t~is Ditter for the first tl .. in July of 1992, .t which tile I .at with Captain Herson. J haye no independent knowledge of what occ~rred there befo~, ether t~~n what my client told .e about the perso~s from who .. bought it and the persons that he knew .boot and his knowledge of the orea. Comm,ssioner Qjakta~: So ~f 1 isked you tcn;9~t to pr~$ent U~ with so.tthlng that clearly indicates that there was live music being played at t~is Site in the past, you would not have anything tG present to us? ~r, Tenenbaum: 1 cannot give you any facts at this tIme, but what I c.n do ;s to giwe you a dec1aration, assuming there is furth~r testimony. ~y client, the 80 percent owner of my client, Harry Auanessian, will be present to present that. Or I can give you a declaration from him with 02/09/94 -31- ---'-,,-------- , '. -I / his kn~wledge. r cannot give y~u any personal knowledge. Obviously, I knew nothfng about tne place. I didn't even know it existed. ~1S51Qner Qjak1an; T~ey didn1t present you with a~y documentation. We ha~e no concrete evidence t~at indicates that previo~s ~$tabl1sh~nts at tnl, site pl.yed live BUsic. Mr. Tenenbaym: No, because up untii this tiN'. ! was not presented with any fndication that there was live music there before. I have presented that knowledge at an informal meetin9 w1t~ the Zoning Administrator. I presented it with the Police Cepart ... nt. [presented it at the time of the actual fo~al Zoning Adm'nistrator hearing. and nobody ever ~rOu9ht t~e issue up. T~at is why J didn't know there was a problem. I just assumed it was true. Cpmmiss,gner Q1aK1an: I was just wonderin9 if we have Gny clear indication. sometning ws can look it that indicates to us that. in fact, live MUsic has been played at t~is site. Cpmm1ssiQnpr Btecham; ]f r could extend ycur question and ask the prDspective new owner to present any data he has on tnis. Mr. Ayang$sian: Just a few years back, t~ere was a salsa operation there called Garfield/s. They played salsa GUsic there. EWEry Sunday night they played salsa MUsic witn big orche~tras. They never had I~Y problem, and I was aware of that, and that is why I brought the salsa m~sic i~ thll!re~ CO"jssjoner BeechiA: So YOd are saying that on Sunday ni9~ts, they had live -.asic? Mr. Auanessian: Yes. CQ!lis§fpner Qjakia~: And that is one operation that was gOing on. Mr~ Auaness;an: That is thE only one r am aware of. I do~'t know how IIIany operations have been there. The,-e "as £1 Ran,ho, and they probably had so.e live ~usic in there. is well. But I 1m aware of at this time, I did, little research ~n it. and ~e~ 1 spo~e ~ith some Qf the radio st.tions and tried to study the market. They told .. that at the time t~at £arfield's was there, they were playing salsa ~sic. I would &150 like to aake the eomment that the security guard does Mot k~ow the difference between s.ls •• nd latin Jazz. They hlppen to be the .... thing. Another cOIIIIent I would 1; ke to make. When thi! second sp-ea~er said that he drives by Wednesday nights and he doesn't s.e any activity .nd thought the place is closed, th.t is ex.ctly wh.t [mean. The place is open ~t it is closed becayse t~ere is no actfvity outside. ] have .lso spoken ~ith tho Police Cepartment, and they indicated that they don't have th.t many problems a~re. Jt ~as been taken care of. [wDuld also like to hear from their point of Ylew. I did ~ant to do a ride~alo~9. and they told ~ that I would not see anything beca~se .cst of the probl~s ha~e been taken care of~ CQMllssioner Ojakian; That was, in fact, my second question, and it is directed toward the Police Department. There have been some comments aade 02/09/94 -33- • tonignt about whether these c111s for servIce actually emanat~ from La Cumbre_~~d that tnere are not I lot of details on its~ etc. I ~o~ld 15ke to have your comNents on that. tapt, MersQn: I am r~a11y happy that you asked the question, becaure I started to rile when I heard Mr. Tene~baU8 talk about that. because he knows full well, and he never raised any prior abjection 1 when we did provide him the data, that those calls come specifically fro. La cumbr., specifically called from th.t location. W. could have gone and done a wider area search and attributed a much greater ncmber of calls from t~e establishlent, b~t we dtd not want to do that and cloud the issue. We wanted to attribute on1} those cll's that C~ from that address. They don't cooe from El Rancho. They CODe fr"" Ll 'urnbre. ~~~~;Y:~~~~ Could you quickly c ..... nt on the events that 11. 1193. when t~e staff report indicates that there riot out front that required the use of several poifce several people, 1 be1ieve it was five. went to the knife wounds? Caot. MerSQn: There were a total of five people, I believe. that end~ up at Stanford Hospital with various cut and stab wounds. There were several polfce agencies that did have to respond to i large n~r of people in the street who were fighting at that tiae. It included the California HIghway Pitrol, Lo. Altos and St.nford polic., and I btlieve, Mountain Yiew, as well. tommjssloner Ojak1an: An~ thGse events were a direct result of acti~ity that was happening at La Cuabre? Capt. Merson: Th~ situation was at that location. Cgmmj$$joner Glazier: ] hive a questiDn for the city attorn~y. I would like to explQre a 1ittle bit more what our options are this evening. ]f we, in fact, find that this business is detr1mental to the health, safety ;and welfare of the conmunity, is that a basis for only re\'okir,g the us.e perm1t, or is it a basis for ren~otiat10n, basicaily, fr~ scratch. the use perait? Hr C .. lon",@: The code says you ca", modify the pe~it <:ondit·ions if there 1s • finding of • health, safety .nd .. lfare problem. So the code does not authorize revocation in the absence of a permit v;olatiGn. ] a~ speaking w;t~out hovlng res.arched the leg;sl,tive history. but I think the code envi.Ions that if I health ."d safety ~robl .. Iris •• , the Planning Commission and Zoning Adainistrator can impnse condit~ons to deal witn that. If those conditions are ~iolated, the" a revocation ~ould go ahead. So I t~ink the code envisions a two+step process. That is why the live .u$ic issue becomes of importance in the commission's decision making. li the conclusions of the Zoning Admin1stl"'ator are sListained, t",e l1ve musiC v101at1on would be grounds, ynder the code, for revocation. COmmissjoner Cassel: Ari!l, we have an awkward situation where ~e have i piece of property where, is far as we are concerned, it has one owner, and the proposal for iny kinds of changes have Deen made by someone who is proposing to own the pr:>pert.1'. Where does that leave LIS'? 02/09/94 ·34· --~-~~. Mr. Calonne: 1 be11e~e the ~ommiss;on has a number of evidentiary prob~eIIs ilt this point to si ft through. One, have you heard Dr receh'ed any evid~nce to support i conclusion that there has been a tNnsfer? Two, have you heard or received any evidence to support a contlusfcn that there wa~ live music in the ~a~t? If you accept that, that matters, from a legal standpoInt, I am not, at thIs poInt, prepared to advise that that does matter. [think that at this point, the commissionis consideration ought to be focused on tne evidence you have hear~ and what it means to you. Agilin, I think you do have the opport1Jnity to r~quest additional evidence eIther from stIff or from the appellant. If the appellant is ~"able to produce that ewidence, you can take that into account in reaching your decision. I don"t know that yOy have that obligatiDn. feel that the appellant has had full opportuoity to present any evidenc. that It is capable of presenting. So I don't think you have that obligatfon, but it is certainly an o~tion for yo~. "5, Lytle; I haYe une piece of information that I went upstajrs t~ count froa the aerial photograph~ wh~n it was asked ear1ier in the hearing to confirm. Tnat was a request for the "umber of parking spaces on the site. There a~e 23 spaces, accotding to the air photos, on site. Commissioner Btecham; 1 have a question on the impact of live mus~c versus recorded .us;c. To me, susic noise is related to volume. You can get tne same volume out of an ~lified recorded music system as you can if yo~ have players up ther~ doing ~t the.selves. Does staff have iny input on the r.oise level to be expected outside a facility. wnetner there is ltve versus recorded ~Jstc being played? ~$. Lytle: r think the live issue .usic is mare an ;ssue of the lind of draw that it will attract, the kind of activity tnat it generates, the kind af attitude and excitement tnat a liye band will produce ver~us I r~corded ~usic enVironment. rt is mor! an issu~ of tbe type of evtnt that it becomes than it is an issue of the noise direttly e~anating from the facility. which r think is what the proposed conditions from the new .. naqeoent have to de.l with. Cpmmj$$joner $chink: r have a question for the appellant's attorney. You seem to want t~ respond to the evidence supplied by the Police D@partment, so if you could do that. Also, if y~u could suggest tnat you have any facts tnat would support your previous assertions that their reports are incorrect. that people that ire listed there. in fact, were not associated with the club. Finally. in your previous ~otice of Appeal, you suggested tnat the Zoning Administrator ~ad lOOKed at evidence whic~ was improperly included. Have we heard .ny evidence tonight that you feel is i~roperly included? Mr· Tenenbaum: Tnat was probably a shotgun appeill to cover ail subj~ct .atter, because there was no specificity on it. ~1ss1o"tr $chink: Does that me.n no. you haven't he~rd anything tonIght that '- ~r. Tenenbaum: Other than what we have mer.tioned. no, I danIt thinK. she has ~xcluded anything. As far as your first two questions, they go toget",er and nave the same answer, tnat is, can I respond to anything yOIJ said that he would never have given us ~ny information abo~t any arrests 02/09/94 -3S- , ,\ .. ' or activitieS tnat did not have anything to do wit., La Cumbr~. and do I have any doc~ntat1an~ let Me work bacKwards on the she!t that w~s given me la5t with rega~ to act!vities that were there. Tne very 1.st one on the bottom Is at 5:12 in the afternoon, four hours before tne place opens u~~ A person was drunk in public out on the street. That ~as nothing to do ~ith La Cwobre. The next one is at 3:03 in the afternoon. That person was st~.nded witn a six-month-old baby because her friend was arrested. She needed to get to the Santa Ro.a Greyhound b<,. Nothin9 to do .ith La CU8bre. T~e next one is a call for help~ white, male adult at El Rancho, the hotel, with long blond hair, causing a disturbance. That is at six o'clock in the evening, nothjng tc do with La Cumbre. I can just keep going up the list. That is ~ response. 8lrk Venable; As you are aware, we have a unique s1tu.tion w~ere the hotel and La Cuabre share the same addre~s. We haye continued to use in our police computer fo~ ~alls for service t~at sa~ addres~. Whit Mr~ Tenenbaum hlS. when r ~n out a calls for serw!ce prjntout for that specif~c address is ail the calls for service at t~e hotel and it La CWlbre. What we hive done in tne 84 caliS for service t~at you saw bet~en August, 1991 and August, 1993 and on the FAX copy that Mr. Tenenbaum has, we have go~e thro~h each and everyone of those calts for seNite and have aeticulousTy eXlJained the cases, and then ha'ie gone and spoken to tne police officers who were involved in those incidents for those arrests in order to ensure, before passing it on to you and to Hr. Te~enbaUM, that ~t was. in fact, directly related to that specific addr2ss~ On the FAX copy that Mr. Tenenbaum has that we sent over, there is an Lt written next to those elevEn calls for ser-.... ice that are directly rel;ted~ The ones that he was just reading !re~ in fact, related to tbe hotel, obviously. We have all those copies of those cases. We could present thai. We have forwarded them to the ABC. That i, .hat they h.ve based their enforcement aetion on. We ~ave gone to great lengths to erisun the authent it-i ty of those cases. .6.1 so, just to underscore, what you have is just the specif~c add~ss searth to that location only. It is a very c:onservathe estimate. Any incident that has e" .. e" t"e 51 igbtest question we throw out and do not carry it forward to use in this instance. Any peripheral <all, for service, like the one alluded to earlier tonight, s~thing two blocks up t~2 road or down the street, is not even included. That would involve In incredible ~unt of work. it can be do~e; .e did that analysis for The Edge, and 1t brought the entire scope of the problem into a cl~arer picture~ Commissioner Beecham: Just fer refere~ce on t"at~ on the list we do have herel in scanning through it, t~ere was one item at 5;30 in the afternoon for narcot1cs~ Th! only otf'ler items in the afternoon are for the alarm sounding at the facility. Everything else iz at n19ht or early mornjng, it s.ea,. Mr. IentnbaUlt: I don1t want to feel 1 ih a .)0'0.10 coming back, but one point on whit he said, for ane of these eleven dis~urbances, it says, disturbance 22 minutes past midnight at La tumbr.. Music too loud, PO check, and then after that, No Violation. Commistioner Aeech~: Can staff summarize how the noise ordinance ~ould apply to this facility, Mr. Colonna: The portion of the noise ordin.nce that would apply to this 02/09/94 ·36· '&q ] iF '~.- • l I I 1 r '5'1111" J facility is in Chapter 9.10.040 of the Palo Alto Municipal Cod~ for COMme~ial and industrial property noise limits. It says that no person shall produce, suffer or al10111 to produce by any madt1ne or device or any cOlbfnation of S~ on c~mmercjal or industria' ~~opert1 a noise level more than ei9ht decibell above the local ambient it any point outside the property plane. Commissioner Beecham: ]f I recall my poor schooling in noise, i~act of eight decibels is less than a doubling of the noise? dbs Is roughly doubling of the p.rcefved volume, I think. a ,perceived Abaut ten Commissjoner~: Tnis is i Quest1cn for staff. T~is is sort of a strange approac~, but I want ta try it out and get your sense of it. At thfs point, [ am strongly leaning to~ard tne belief tnat this permit should be revoked, but I have not f~lly concluded that. ] also recognize that they seem to be posturing tnemselves towards fulfilling all of their legal remedies and soggesti"9 that ~ur action might be overturned. Are we in a position to first modify the use permit pri~r to revoking it? Mr. C'lQnne~ [am ~ot sure I follow i~U. The commiSSion could, for exa~le, .od1fy the use permit and require I re~iew within some number of IOnths to determine whether there has been complianct with those conditions. ] heard a number of questions directed to Mr. Auanessian dealing .ith how ~any ~ecur;ty guards. bas1cal1y, a ~!ry detailed operational analysis. The commission could move t~wards putting all of those operational restrictions as specific conditions Orl t.he pennit and agafn, reQuire l review ~ith1n some time period for further conSideration of the revocation. But if you lrt suggesting I two-step process to modlfy it tonigMt and t~n revoke It, 1 don~t think tnat is necessary or appropriat.e. Chairpersgn Schmidt: [would like to clarify f~ our conversations at the precommissian meeting this aorning that our options, as ] understand t~, are to uphold the Zoning Ad.inistrator's decision and agree with the staff recommendations. The second option would be to add conditions to the existing conditional use permit, somewhat is Ariel just described, and we co"ld try to crift those cond;tions to";ght. As. third opt;,n, we could discuss concepts, thf~9S we would lik~ to have in the conditions. and ask staff to prepare co"~itions and come back to us with well thought out, well construe-ted conditiorls that woul<1 go. along with tt:.ings that we want t~ see, go along with things similar t~ t~e requir~!nts put on The Edge. Mr. Cal anne: That is correct, and] would want to esphasize tnat you can ask for that last action. the staff preparation of condltions, without n!cessarily committing yourself tnat you are gDing to accept theM. In other words, the co~ission may S~i t~at we cannot determine whether revocation is appropriate until W! see before ys for deliberation a list of c~nd1tlons that we would want to consider in the alternati~e. So you can leave your option open and ask staff to do that and come back and let you weigh them in that fashion. Chairperson Schmidt: If ~ di~ tr.at, at that point, we would also have the apti.::tn to re<l'pen the public hea,.tn9~ or is tnat another noticed hearing? 02/09/94 ·37· Mr. Cjlon"e: Yes, you would ~aye tnat option. tha1rperson Sch'i~: ls It noticed or is it something W~ do at the time? Mr, [alonne: Probably. the best thing to do, if you go tnat route in the a.ctiQrl t.onigt\t, ,it to treit it as ~ continua.nce and leave the hearing apen tonight to avoid any possible car-fusion. ~: Commissioner Beecham: Takfng the advice of co~nsel, as well as c~nts ~ere tonight, I would like to 80ve that we continue this and give staff directions on conditions tnat we feel are necessary to be implemented in the permit toward ensuring that the operation eliminates the problems th.t are being cau,ed .nd have been c.used to the neighborhood. Conditions that I would see th.t oust be addressed jovolve having uniformed gua~s on Ventura Avenue w;lh the objective of eli.inat1ng customer parking on Ventura Avenue. Another condit1or. I would see involves a cutoff of serving Ilcohol. We do~'t have .uch in teras of what are appropriate times, but one approach is, on a weekend, a cutoff it 12:30 a .•. and w!ekdays at 12 midnight. 1.1so a condition regarding l~tter picku~ nightly. A condition on a noise monitoring prDgr~. from my pOint of view, J ~ not sure if it .akes a difference whether the music inside i5 live or not, in t~rms of the perceived noise outside. r think an effective approach Is to MOnitor tne noise outside. and find out if It is in co.pl~ance with our noise ordinance, and ensure th,t it does come into compliance. So I can see .t l.ast tnose four reQUirements. A fifth requ1~nt is on parking. I a. amazed that tne parkjng is so far below to. demand of the location. I h.ve no idea how to approach the p.rking fssue. One option may b6 to get a formal agreement with the All Amerfcan Market so that the ur.iformed guards can more directly control the overflow j nto th.t lot. ~: By Ch.irperson Schmidt. CpemjssiQner (issel: I was going to move that we deny tnis. The reason for that i$ t~at we have to determine t~at in fact. they were using live .. sic when that was not according to the per.lt. My feeling is that I have not been presented with ~aterial that indicates that the new owner owns the property and has the right to consent to the conditions t"at we would .ake. The current owner has come to defend his position but has not aad~ any offers to us tnat if he remains the owner. h~ ~ould comply with any of these tond1ttons. So) dQ not feel comfortab1e, at th15 time, making conditions with the current own~r. It puts he in a bind. If they had come to us with a new owner, who was then in the position to ~ake those agreements, that would be one thing. I feel that they .re using live MUS!C when they have an agreement tnat they should not. I feel that they ha •• c.used a health and safety endangerment problem to the neighborhood, 50 ) feel t~ey have wiolated both of t~ose agreements. CQI!js5ioner Beecbam: We might want to be careful, pernaps, on ~ow much reliance we put. if we go in the direction ycu are talking about, O~ the h.ck of factual backup on a n~ owner. This issuE', I presume. "ill 9D to the City Council after it comes here. So if, for exa.ple. the appellants, as ttJey indicate to us, are--in the process of purthasing the property. they •• y ha •• factual data by that time that would kick out one leg of the tlble we have here. 02/09/94 ·38· ---...-l.1 HdU' • \ Commissioner Caisel: D~es t~at create any problems? Co~ld the council~ if tney ~ave evidence that this is a new owner. and people brought in conditional agreements on the grounds of the kinds cf things you were stating, but at tnis pOint, W! ~o not hayt a ne~ owner. Cgwmjss1gner Beecham; Part of my mDtion that I did not get to is that st.ff will ha" to got back to us. I don't know how soon th.t could be done. One condition that also could be put in there is that we de get confirmation by th~t date of the transfer of own!rship. ~omm;ssi9n§r Carrasco: I would 11ke to speak against this ~otion. think, firstly, tnat there is clear eY'jden<:e that there is a violation of the condition of lh. IlUslc. It is clearly stated in tn. use permit. T~rough our testtmonYr ;t is clearly described by the appellant and the new appellant, the person who may take it over, that he intends to continue to have liv€ ~s1c. So it 1s i clear violation of a relsonable condition, if we use Ariel's first setup of what we n~ed to lock at. In addition to that, there is a ~uge nUMber of issues that violate the ~ealth, slTeotY----and ge-neral welfare in that area. J am not confident that a clear indication that he cannot have live mus1c will not fall down the road and th! appiicant comes in and says, we don't t~ink we n~~d to obey the noise ordinance, Dr we can trash the neighborhood and that 15 okay~ and we don't agree with 1t. So r have no confidence t~at this applicant can perfonB. So I find that both Df thes! conditions are being violated --the condition of the use permit is being violated, and the healt~. safety and welfare is being violated. So I wii1 speak against the motion, and I will w.lt for P~ylljs to make a .ution if tnis one does not pass. ~; C_"$Sioner Glazier: Could we make a substitute IIOtion? That would be to uphold the decisiDn of ttle Zoning Administrator. CbafrDersqn Sc~idt: We haYe a motion on the floor that we need to vote on first, unless you want to accept I substitute motion. stand by my motion. commissioner Qjakian: I a2 also not gOing to support the metlon. To just step b.ack for as second, off of hearirlg some of tne pub1ic COlTIT\ents tonight, 1 pretty ~ch suppo~t the c~nts that Commissioner Carrasco just made. First of all, tonight we are not discussing the state of [1 Camino Real. ~e have discussed that in other domains ~nd in other situations at other ti~s. There are plenty of venues for doing tnat, the Cocpre~ensiye Plan Advisory Coa.ittee being one of those. Tnat is an area that is being conSidered right now as a study area. So thos~ people who are interested in tne state of E1 Ca_ino Real, which I personally .also as, hay! another place to deal with that issue. Second, to me~ the thing we are not disr,ussing tonl~ht is the q~estian of new ~ersh1p. j am not ~ven c~nsider1ng that, per se. It was interesting to hear the facts and t~ get a feel for hDW the operttion ;s run. I ~ little appalled over the relationship between the capacity of t~is operation and the amount of parking available f~r it. I donlt want to get into i sltiJaticfJ at t~at site anywhere down the road t~at does some sort of spot zoning to deal with the parking. That is the wrong way to 90, in my .i~d~ I have seen it before, and] prefer to ~yo;d it. It is 02/09/94 -39- ) nice to nave an applicant who appar!ntly has some~hat of a good track record. who has a~ Idea and wants tc do so~thing in Palo Alto. There is a venue for them, and tnat is, to co~ to tne city and apply for a use PE'rait anlj 90 through ttli s proce'S5. .hat we are d ;,c;cuss i ng ton i ght il. -mether we should allow tn~ (ontlnuatlon of the current use permit in front of US t or ~dlfy it. There clearl1 are grounds for ~difying it. [ dan't think we need to go back t~rou9h this. Just looking at these calls for service, hearing the coaments by the Police ~partment tonight, and in particular, focusing in on one e~Ent. the night of September 11, 1993, when I don't think there is anybody in this room who said tney would deny the fltt that we h.d • riot in fTont of the club tnat was well beyond the levels of reasonabl!ne5S~ My feeling is that if we get into modifying this, with several conditior.s, t~al in essence, th~ way I wnuld want to modtf~ it, J am not ~ure whether the appellant would ~a~t to stay i~ business. So in my mind, there is plenty of justification for revoking this use penm1t t and that is because in the words of the city attorney. t~ere was a vio1ation of reasonable cond1t1o~. Tbere is, and apparently t~ere intends to be, live ~s1c played .t this site. I have not seen in front of me (and m.ybe th.t will appear before tbis goes t~ the City CQuncil} clear indicatio~ t~at li~e ~sic has been played thEre consistently ever a period of time. I don't th'nk that playing MUsic en a Sunday night is justificition fer saying that that is an indfcation tn~t live music can be played tnere. Even if there has been some live musle played t~ero before. I don't thin~ it is just!f1cltfon for saying that i conditional use permit can be violated just because we didn't ~now that that was happening. So in my ~ir.~. I canpot support tne motion, becaase in my mind~ the correct motion is gaing to be SOMething along the lines of what ComMissioner Cassel was suggesting. That ;s, that we re~oke the use pe~it before us ton1ght. Com-i$s1oner Glazier; r just contrast this sit~ation with the $ituation regarding The Edge. I think the tenor of the discussion between tne appellant and the neighborhood is still wrong. When tne problems were si.ilar. when we c~ to this point with Th! Edge, we had before us, well before the helTing, • long list of proposed remedies. W. had the ~jority of those reMedies implemented. We had a sUbstantiil n~mb~r of n~ighbors spe.king on behalf of the appellant, b.sed on a good faith sense th.t changes were going to be made. Here, we bave a potential new owner who .ays many of the things th.t need to be said to put this In pl.ce, but still, the tenor of these discussions outside this room, look where you are and look where you are, there is just something wrong aboJt tnat. [ ha~e nQ basis to say tnat you won't live up to yoyr promises. hut I don't feel ca.fortable continuing this proceSi whe~ here we are on complete oppOSite ends of the spectrum. I could envisiDn a clrcum~tance .here you Ci8e bAck to us, after we ~ispen5ed with this t ~lth a new proposal for a business and a new use permit where we might be able to craft conditions that would b. amenable to tn" neighbors and to yourself. But to me, the offenses have been extraordinarily egregious. Tne date of this hearing has been no surprise to anyone. The fact that the filing for th~~ cha~ge of ownership was root proposed to take place until today indicates to ae that the tenor of the discussions and the basis of good faith is just nGt there yet. Until that Is there, I do not fe.l comfortable eontinuing these discussiDns. There is a basis ih my mi~d for determining that the bUSiness is detrimental to the healtn t safety and welfare of the community, and] would support tDnight revoking the use penlit on that basls. 02/09/94 -40· • \ -·--'~ _______ Mg .... __ _ " "l -~ i , Comef$~lQher SCh1~k: I would feel more comfortable if we ~od;fied the use penn1t. I only believe that because I thinkl in the long run, that ~s what w1ll hold up. when] lDD~~ it this sitllation. it seem~ to me that if YOli cannot revoke a use pe-nait because someone CiiJ:'ieS a riot. can you find i better reaso~? But as described to me, those were not the standards. They ~ad to violate one Df the tond1Uons of the use permH. The connection betwee~ playing loud music and the riot occurring and the other events, ! just don't think. that ;s strong enough. I tnink that we need to modif...\o' the use permit to get at the problems, and the problems are documented in the po11cE report. To do that, we should ask them to close t~ir business at 11 o'clock. on weekends and ]0 o'clock on ~eek n;9~ts, and t~at we should pro~ibit them fr~~ playing live music, because you C3nnot control t~e yol~ of li~~ music. I would impo~e those cond1tfons at thi s pOint, and ask th2tl'l to come baci( in four IKInths. I would also ask staff to come up with a list of conditions to get at the parking proble. _~en they come back in four months. That is the approach I would take. Commissiqner Bee~ham: word to. conditions to sure it 15 wortn~ile, r am wondering if there Is a value in trying to get just a little bit more support here. ] am not so [ am not gOing to pursue that at the moment. Chairperson Schmidt: [would like to add that I would s~pport the existing aotion and Jon's comments. I t~~nk that according to what ha\ been related to us, the existing conditional use permit only has a couple of condition.s~ The curreht management looks like they are att_tlng to .ake some changes~ but we do not have a structure that says whit changes we .int and how tnat should be monitored and when It should be checked. I think it would be useful to try to create ~ list of condftions th!t would be agreeable and ~ould vastly change tne i~~ct of this facility on the c~nity. So I would support thil .ation~ and we have mentioned a number of items here~ if we could ask staff to craft a list of conditions that would ir"lude some of the things that Bern has mentioned, some of the things tbat Jon has mentioned, but refer to the condHiort'.i for The Edge for a nUiber of community concerns. I don't think we hi~e to lIst ill of tn. conditIons tn,t we .ignt think wo"ld apply. Wh.t Vic said may not be agreeable to the appellant, but r think it would be reasonable to tr~ and put together a list of conditions, so I will support this current motion. HOTTON fAILS: Chairperson Sc~: 15 there any further discussion on this motion? It has been moved b~ C~issioner Beecham and seconded by ~self to ccntinue tnis hearing, to delete the clOSing of t~e p~b1ic hearing, and send this back to staff f~r adding and crafting of conditions whIch t~ think would be acceptable to ~.king this facility run. Some of the cQnditions mentioned would revolve around hiVing guards to preverlt parking on Ventura Avenue; S~ sort of solution to the parking problemi a cutoff ti~ for serving alcohol; more detail about litter piCKUp; noise 50nitDring and control; SCGe evidence of transfer of ~ershi~; SOMe closing times~ 1 believe those .re most of tha possible conditions mentioned. All those in favor, s~ aye~ All opposed? That f.lls on a vDte of 3-4, wtth Comaissicners Beecham , Schink and Schmidt ~Dting f~r~ and Coa;issioners Carrasco, C~ssel, Glazier and Ojakian voting aga;nst~ Is there another motion? ~: COMmissioner Cassel: i move that we support the staff report a~d the decision of the Zoning AdministratGr in this case and deny the conditicnal use permit. OZ/09/94 ·41~ • .. ~: By Commiss~oner Gl~zi!r. Chajrper$on Schmidt: Is there any further discussion On this motion? It ~.s been aoveG and seconded to support the stoff recommondatlon that the fla~nin9 Commisslon recommend that the Lity Council uphold tne Zoni"9 ~;"istr.tor's deti,ion and revQ'~ the .se permit 73-UP-Z2, ba.ed on the fiPdings included herein. Commissioner tarrlSto: 1 support this motion because I believe that the n~ applicant '~n come ~efore the city and file for i new use permit. Mr. Ci1onne: If the ca.mission wants that to be the case~ my suggestion would be that ,YOU add the words that the cOGIIission/s action ts withollt prejudice to • new applicatior.. Chairperson S~hmidt: The motion will be modified, and the maker and s&conder of the motion hav2 &ccepted the ~1fi~~tion. MUON PASSES; £h.lir.person Schmjdt: All' those in favor, say Aye? All opposed? That pa.sses on a \'ote af 6-1, with Corrm1ssioner Beec.ham voting agAinst. This Item goes on to the City tounci1 on February 22, 1994. 02/09(94 -42- NO DOCUMENT ... •