Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte
For a city government that insists it’s trying to help bolster the region’s business climate and spur economic development, Queen City bureaucrats sure have a funny way of showing it. And not ha-ha funny.
Charlotte’s latest attempt at subverting private property rights and killing the relative prosperity of small businesses is no laughing matter. Not content with regulating the amount of noise produced from outdoors music at bars and restaurants, the city is looking to bust through the doors and clamp down on noise produced inside the same. This from WSOC-TV:
Several restaurants around the city play music indoors. Some even have karaoke and pool, but the proposal would shut it all down at midnight in and around uptown Charlotte because the city says the businesses are too close to homes.
Rob Nixon said customers are used to hearing music in the background at Jackelope Jack’s, but the new proposal would kill that. It would require any restaurant that plays music on a jukebox to stop at midnight – unless it’s 400 feet from a residential area.
“I’ve got to walk up to my customer and say, ‘You know what? From 12 to 2 a.m., all you’ve got to do is sit down and enjoy your beer and it’s quiet time,” Nixon said.
Nixon said he believes it will cut sales up to 30 percent for him.
Charlie Powell said it will shut him down completely. He runs a production company that provides entertainment to restaurants and bars.
“It will put too many people out of work, including you, including me, me and all of my employees,” he said.
Wonderful. Just what this city and its already sky-high unemployment rate needs.
UPDATE: A city manager’s memo to council, released this afternoon, adds a little context to the proposal. Not sure what, if any difference it makes to WSOC’s original report and the concerns expressed by business owners; bottom line still seems the same: restaurants that are trying to make ends meet in a tough economy, and keeping people employed in the process, would take a hit. In any event, here’s the city manager’s memo:
The Planning Department has convened a Citizen Advisory Group (CAG) to review and discuss the current zoning regulations for restaurants, nightclubs and bars. The purpose of this effort is to clarify the difference between restaurants and nightclubs/bars and to review the standards for these uses. With the downturn in the economy, many restaurants have added entertainment to generate additional revenue.
Currently the Zoning Ordinance does not allow restaurants to provide entertainment. Nightclubs and bars are allowed to provide entertainment, but in most zoning districts these establishments currently must be located a minimum of 400 feet from a residential use or residential district. Restaurants that had added entertainment have expressed a need to have no separation requirement from residential uses and districts. On the other hand, many citizens located adjacent to or within 400 feet of these businesses would like to maintain a separation distance and have been especially concerned about noise impacts.
As the concerns of these competing interests are being weighed, staff is making recommendations to clarify differences between restaurants and nightclubs and to adjust regulations related to the separation distance. A staff recommendation will be presented at the next CAG meeting scheduled for November 17 at 6:00 p.m. in the CMGC. Next steps will be determined after this meeting.
It appears that a number of citizens and the press have confused this effort with an evaluation of the Noise Ordinance. While the Noise Ordinance and the zoning regulation of nightclubs and bars are related, the current effort is not recommending any changes to the Noise Ordinance. Instead, this effort has remained focused on definitions of nightclubs and bars, as well as regulations for these uses.
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