LAKEPORT — The Lakeport Planning Commission Wednesday approved a staff-recommended proposal regarding The Full Throttle Tavern, and the bar will now be allowed to present live entertainment for a 90-day trial period.
The commission voted 4-0 to allow the live music presentation for 90 days, during which time city staff will monitor whether the bar adheres to agreed-upon regulations. Commissioner Ross Kauper excluded himself from the proceeding because he said he owned property with 500 feet of the Tavern.
After the 90 days, the bar ownership could make a request to the commission for an extension of the permit allowing live entertainment.
The commission voted in December to suspend the Tavern”s zoning permit allowing for live entertainment presentation. Bar owner Racheal Ferguson filed an appeal to the Lakeport City Council on Dec. 13 but withdrew her appeal on Jan. 31.
Bar manager Sean Lyon told the commission Wednesday that the bar hosted live entertainment most weekends in 2011 during the appeal process.
Planning services manager Andrew Britton said city staff determined the suspension was not in effect during the appeal period, and interim police chief Brad Rasmussen said that compliant calls to the Lakeport Police Department (LPD) about the Tavern had been “virtually non-existent” since the commission”s December ruling.
Lyon said the establishment has made nearly $5,000 worth of soundproofing improvements to the walls, windows and floors since October. Lyon said he plans to design a new main entrance door that would face the north side of Main Street. The bar has also begun closing its patio smoking area nightly beginning at 10 p.m.
The Tavern has seen a “big drop” in sales since the public meeting in December, Lyon said.
The commission heard that staff from the Community Development Department (CDD), the LPD and the Tavern had met several times to develop an operations-conditions plan that would allow the bar to reinstate live entertainment.
The city developed a “revised project conditions agreement” with the property owners, Ferguson and Marci McDaniel, outlining a series of regulations that the bar must adhere to during the 90-day trial period.
Conditions include that live entertainment is limited to six days a month and can occur on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights, the entertainment must not extend later than 12:30 a.m. and the volume heard by neighboring residential properties originating from the bar after 10 p.m. must not exceed 45 decibels.
The Tavern will also be required to post live entertainment dates at least five days before the event and notify the LPD and CDD of planned events on a weekly or monthly basis.
The agreement defines live entertainment as live bands, karaoke, live comedians, disc jockeys or similar presentations of amplified voices and music. Sounds from non-live sources, such as televisions or stereos, could continue until 1:30 a.m.
The live entertainment must occur indoors with exterior entrance doors closed. The Tavern will also have to post additional signage, such as maximum occupancy. The LPD could require additional security as well.
Several neighbors and concerned citizens spoke at the December commission meeting but Lyon was the only person who spoke Wednesday. Citizens in December introduced a number of concerns in addition to music noise issues, including alleged patron noise and misconduct outside the bar.
Lyon said Wednesday he thinks it is unfair that the bar be held accountable for the actions of people in the neighborhood and off of Tavern property that may or may not have been Tavern patrons.
“I can”t control what goes on outside of my establishment,” Lyon said. “We do everything we can on our property and then we guide them.”
Modifications to the project agreement could be approved after the 90-day period, according to Britton.
The Tavern planned to present live DJ entertainment Friday, which would serve as a “sound test,” and the bar plans to arrange a full schedule of live entertainment beginning in the coming weeks, Lyon said.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
