On April 13, 2016, the City Commission referred a discussion item pertaining to operational regulations for alcoholic beverage establishments south of Fifth Street to the Land Use and Development Committee (item C4C). The referral was sponsored by Commissioner Michael Grieco.
The Land Use and Development Committee (LUDC) discussed the item on April 20, 2016 and directed staff to bring back a draft ordinance on May 18, 2016. On May 18, 2016, the Land Use Committee discussed the proposed ordinance and recommended that that the City Commission refer the ordinance to the Planning Board in accordance with the following:
1. Modify the exceptions provision to allow existing 5:00 am establishments to remain;
2. Develop language to ensure that existing 5:00 am establishments do not become non-conforming in the future due to 6 month rule;
3. Incorporate additional ordinance text based upon the input of affected stakeholders and the Marriott Hotel to address the issue of above ground seating hours.
On June 8, 2016, the City Commission referred the proposed ordinance amendment to the Planning Board for review and recommendation.
Regulations specific to alcoholic beverage establishments exist for the South of Fifth neighborhood and other parts of the City including North Beach, Sunset Harbour and pending legislation for the west side of Alton Road. These areas of the City have a mixture of residential developments and destination eating and drinking establishments.
Currently, alcoholic beverage establishments located south of Fifth Street that do not exceed neighborhood impact establishment (NIE) thresholds have very few operational restrictions and are permitted to stay open until 5:00 am. The south of fifth neighborhood has expressed a desire to further regulate hours of operation for all alcoholic beverage establishments. At the direction of the LUDC, a draft ordinance was prepared to address these issues and concerns. The following is a summary of the changes proposed for the zoning districts south of Fifth Street:
· All alcoholic beverage establishments shall close by 2:00 AM.
· All outdoor or open air areas of an alcoholic beverage establishment shall close by 12:00 AM.
· Outdoor bar counters shall be prohibited.
· Alcoholic beverage establishments with sidewalk café permits shall only serve alcoholic beverages at sidewalk cafes during hours when food is served in the restaurant, and shall cease sidewalk café operations no later than 12:00 AM and shall not be permitted to have outdoor speakers.
· Special events permits shall not be permitted.
· Modified regulations pertaining to the number of seats and hours of operation for above ground, open-air establishments have been proposed for ocean front hotels with at least 200 rooms.
An exceptions clause has also been included for existing establishments or those establishments that have submitted an application for a BTR, or have received land use board approval, by June 28, 2016. The exceptions clause provides that such uses are deemed legal conforming uses, so that they may continue to operate and make modifications without having to losing the ability to operate. The revised title is intended to clarify this clause.
PLANNING BOARD REVIEW
On June 28, 2016, the Planning Board (by a 5-0 vote) transmitted the proposed ordinance amendment to the City Commission with a favorable recommendation. The Planning Board also recommended modifications to the section pertaining to above ground seating for restaurants in oceanfront hotels. The revised text has been incorporated into the attached draft of the ordinance.
UPDATE / SUMMARY
On July 13, 2016, the City Commission approved the proposed Ordinance at First Reading and set a Second Reading Public Hearing for September 14, 2016. At the request of the item sponsor, the following additional edits were included in the ordinance approved at First Reading; although these edits were not discussed by the Planning Board, they are minor in nature and do not affect the ordinance title:
1. The term "television sets" was added to the prohibition on amplified and non-amplified outdoor restaurants above the ground floor of oceanfront hotels south of Fifth.
2. Clarification that those upper story outdoor hotel restaurants with later hours are to be on no more than one floor.
3. Clarify that oceanfront hotels with 100 + rooms could have up to 50 upper story outdoor restaurant seats. Oceanfront hotels with 200 + rooms get up to 100 outdoor seats.
In addition to the aforementioned changes, a minor text change clarifying ‘main roof seating’, was presented on the floor at First Reading. This clarified text has been incorporated into the draft ordinance for Second Reading.
The City Commission also requested that the Administration and the Legal Department further study the ‘legal non-conforming’ exceptions portion of the proposed legislation. In this regard, three (3) options pertaining to Sec. 142-693(a)(i)(1)(vi) are proposed to address this specific issue, as follows:
Option A
The Ordinance as adopted at First Reading.
Option B
Revised exception language as drafted by the City Attorney’s office.
Option C
Revised exceptions language as proposed by the item sponsor.
As indicated previously, the Administration is supportive of the proposed ordinance. As recommended by the City Attorney’s office, the Administration agrees that there is a better approach to addressing existing establishments that may be impacted by the proposed ordinance. In this regard, a separate referral was made to the Land Use and Development Committee to modify Sec. 118-394 of the City Code, pertaining to “Discontinuance of nonconforming uses”, in order to provide additional time for businesses and property owners to retain a nonconforming use (including nonconforming hours) while they obtain a new tenant and/or complete repairs.
On September 14, 2016, the item was opened and continued to a date certain of October 19, 2016. On October 19, 2016, the item was continued to a date certain of November 9, 2016.
On October 26, 2016, the Land Use and Development Committee recommended that the companion item pertaining to ‘discontinuance of non-conforming uses’ be referred to the Planning Board for consideration. This referral is on the November 9, 2016 City Commission consent agenda.