City eyes banquet hall problems

Josh Kleinbaum

Pointing to a trend of increased disturbances at banquet halls, the

Police Department and the Planning Department proposed new zoning

standards that would force banquet halls to meet performance

standards that include private security.

The City Council seemed lukewarm to the idea at a study session

Tuesday, asking for more community input and another study session.

“To all the people that have issues with banquet halls, the worst

thing we can do is do nothing,” Mayor Bob Yousefian said. “Having a

system that allows all of these places to operate their business and

sets certain criteria makes it much easier for the police department

to operate.”

From Aug. 7 to Oct. 17, police reported 19 significant disturbance

calls at banquet halls, which led to 13 arrests. The Police

Department responded to those calls with 161 officers and took 73

hours to resolve all of the issues, costing more than $5,000.

Police officials could not provide statistics comparing those

numbers to bars or restaurants, but they said banquet halls are

problematic.

“From a police perspective, there is a disproportionate response

to banquet halls,” Capt. Lief Nicolaisen said. “From our experience,

there is a problem here.”

Nicolaisen said banquet halls are more problematic than bars

because everyone knows each other, so when fights break out, nobody

is neutral. At a bar, most fights remain isolated to a handful of

people.

City staff’s proposal would put the onus for safety on the banquet

hall owner. Every hall would have a special permit that included

requirements for private security, parking management and better

communication with the police department, as well as performance

standards tied to police activity.

“If we’re getting excessive police calls, we could commence

revocation proceedings of the [permit], which, if approved, would put

the business temporarily or permanently out of business,” City Atty.

Scott Howard said.

City staff also suggested requiring repeat offenders to reimburse

the city for the cost of police department resources.

Right now, all banquet halls open before 2002 are treated just

like restaurants. A city ordinance established in 2002 prohibits

banquet halls within 200 feet of residential areas, but the ordinance

does not apply to preexisting businesses.

The city’s Planning Department categorizes 32 restaurants as

banquet halls, using the broad definition of existing facilities that

conduct private parties. The Police Department considers 22

restaurants to be banquet halls.

Banquet hall owners did not like the idea of changing zoning to

have their livelihood tied to police activity.

“The operators are willing to cooperate with the city, but I don’t

know if [this proposal] is the best way for that to happen,” said

Vrej Sarkissian, who owns two banquet halls in Glendale. “The real

issue is safety and police response, not zoning. Having security

officers, having a hotline [to the Police Department], we can do

that. There’s no reason for them to go through all these measures.”

After meeting with city officials last year, 15 restaurants and

banquet halls formed the Restaurant and Banquet Hall Owners Assn.,

which will represent the owners in future negotiations.