Azusa to Issue Permits to Control Problem Bars

City officials, searching for a cost-effective way of combating unruly bars, on Monday adopted a permit process to regulate the city’s 10 taverns.

Conditional use permits, which can be revoked with relative ease, will allow the city to close the taverns if illegal or other undesirable activities take place.

Azusa officials say the permit process is an innovative one based on regulations used by only one other city in the state. The ordinance, approved by the Planning Commission in February, is somewhat similar to one in the Orange County city of Stanton.

In recent years, a handful of Azusa taverns have proved a headache for police, who say they have become havens for drug dealing and other crimes.

No Argument

The City Council unanimously passed the ordinance, which covers establishments that serve alcohol as their primary function. No bar representatives appeared at Monday’s council meeting to discuss the proposal.

“There’s nothing against a good cocktail lounge that has something to offer,” said Councilman Tony D. Naranjo. “Unfortunately, we just have a lot of beer bars that seem to attract a lot of unruly drunks.

“We can put tighter conditions on the bars that, if they violate them, can be used to revoke the permits.”

With qualified success, the city has used another approach to control what police say were two of the worst bars. The state Health and Safety Code allows municipalities to “permanently abate” properties where drug sales are a public nuisance.

Court Rejects Bid

Last month, a Pomona Superior Court judge rejected the city’s bid to close JJ’s Cocktail Lounge by imposing stiff penalties on the landlord and bar operators. Azusa had asked the court to permanently padlock the bar, where police reported 65 arrests last year for drug-related offenses and other crimes.

But the landlord, prompted by the city’s action, evicted the problem bar operator. Then the judge found that the city had not given the property owner ample opportunity to remedy the problems. Although city officials praised the result, the judge’s ruling prevented Azusa from recovering its legal costs, estimated at more than $10,000.

The city has a second nuisance-abatement case pending against the La Villa bar, which has had similar problems, officials said.

City Administrator Julio J. Fuentes said the new bar-permit system gives the city more control while sidestepping the costly and time-consuming nuisance abatement process. Instead of going to court and having to build an extensive case, the city can simply revoke the permit if it determines that the tavern endangers the public’s safety, he said.

Proven Track Record

Police Chief Lloyd J. Wood said he hopes the permits can be as effective as the abatement process, which has a more proven track record statewide.

“I don’t know how far we can go,” he said. “My question is: Can this (permit) process take the place of the elaborate abatement process that we went through with JJ’s and La Villa? If it can . . . then we’re in great shape.”

Under the new ordinance, if a bar operator is denied a permit or has an existing permit revoked, the owner can keep the bar open for three more years. If the bar continues to create problems during that time, Fuentes said, the city will follow up with an abatement procedure in court.

Excluding the former JJ’s bar, which the landlord said will not be rented as a tavern, the remaining 10 bars have until mid-August to get a permit. Any bar that does not apply for a permit will face the three-year phase-out, officials said.

Broad Powers

Each bar must submit an operational plan for review by the Planning Commission, which grants the permits. The commission has broad powers to add conditions to the permit to safeguard residents and regulate conduct in the bars.

City officials stressed that the aim is not to close all the city’s watering holes.

“The intent is to ensure that they are good neighbors, not to shut them down,” Roy E. Bruckner, Azusa’s director of community services, told the council.

Some of the major conditions each bar would have to meet include minimum requirements for parking, operating hours, occupancy limits, property maintenance, exterior lighting and on-site security.

“These measures give individuals an opportunity to operate their establishments under certain criteria,” Fuentes said. “If they abide by the criteria, their establishments can continue to exist.”

City officials said few of the bars currently meet all of the basic conditions.