Solana Beach Disco Dispute : City Council May Have Last Dance at Diego’s

The battle between the City Council and the swank Club Diego’s escalated again this week when exasperated council members voted to strip the popular new disco of its dance license.

The action was taken Monday night after the Solana Beach fire marshal reported that the club had repeatedly exceeded its crowd capacity. On Tuesday, however, council members decided to delay imposition of the order a week, until after their next meeting, when Diego’s representatives are expected to challenge the move.

Mayor Margaret Schlesinger said suspension of the dance license represented a “last resort” and was in response to Diego’s “consistent violation of limits on their crowds.” As recently as Saturday night, fire marshals found the crowd in violation of the 300-person limit imposed by county supervisors when they approved construction of the club on Old Highway 101.

“They do not exactly have a good track record,” Schlesinger said. “We’re not trying to close them down, but we’ve given them a lot of warnings. Like other businesses, they simply must stay in compliance with their permit.”

Diego’s owners could not be reached for comment. But their attorney, C. Samuel Blick of Rancho Santa Fe, called the council’s move “a severe action” that effectively would shut the club.

“Every restaurant in town has an occupancy limit, and they all do their best to comply with the law,” Blick said. “It just so happens Diego’s is the most popular place in town, and so it has what every other business would love to have--namely, too many people.”

Besides, Blick said, “Counting people is not an exact science. We do our best, and we will be in compliance. But exceeding the capacity, in and of itself, should not be grounds for (permit) revocation.”

The attorney objected, too, that Diego’s representatives were not contacted before Monday’s meeting and thus were not present to oppose suspension of the license.

“We never had a chance,” he said. “The item wasn’t on the agenda, and we weren’t notified.”

However, Schlesinger said the city made efforts to contact the disco’s owners. She noted that a club representative did attend the meeting but left before discussion of the dance license commenced.

Blick said the representative was unaware the item was coming before the council and had attended the meeting for another purpose.

If the council follows through with its plans to suspend the dance license, Blick said, it will effectively “close down Diego’s,” which also operates a Mexican restaurant on the site.

“Taking away the dance permit from Diego’s is like taking the pizza away from a pizza parlor,” he said. “I don’t think the council realizes what a significant move they have made. We don’t intend to see the club closed down.”

Council members, however, clearly are growing tired of the complaints streaming in from neighboring businesses and residents, who say club patrons monopolize parking, cause late-night disruptions and generally represent a nuisance.

Already, the city has sent a letter warning Diego’s that its major use permit--which allows the entire business to operate--would be revoked if the number of patrons continued to exceed the allowable number. A public hearing on the major use permit also is scheduled for Monday.

“I think the grounds for revocation (of both permits) are already there, so it’s a matter of whether we would get three votes,” Schlesinger said. “Of course, I’d rather see us come to an amicable agreement because, despite the community complaints, Diego’s generates significant revenue for the city.”

In addition to the permit troubles, the club is battling with City Hall over a 232-space parking lot it hopes to build in the railroad right-of-way near the disco.

The new lot, which would enable Diego’s to increase its capacity, was approved by the Board of Supervisors before Solana Beach incorporated in July. The City Council opposes the parking lot and has approved a citywide building moratorium that bars the issuance of permits like the ones Diego’s needs to proceed with the project.