Florissant Planning and Zoning Studies Late-Night Establishments

The took the first crack at studying the issue of taverns, nightclubs and cocktail lounges on Monday night.

Late last month, the Florissant City Council approved an ordinance that placed a on taverns, nightclubs and cocktail lounges, where none of the mentioned will be able to open through the rest of the year.

It now rests in the Planning and Zoning commissioners’ hands to make a recommendation to council on what should be done after the moratorium ends in regards to these establishments.

Building Commisssioner Phillip Lum explained that it could be a tall task for the commission, though.

Lum said from preliminary research on the matter, it could be difficult to distinguish between the activities of a sports bar compared to a nightclub.

Lead commissioner James Ross said the city could end up with, "one ordinance that covers nightclubs, but it would cause problems for little guys who own taverns or bars."

Lum laid out two options for commissioners where nightclubs could be banned altogether, or nightclubs could be regulated by special use permits as well as define the other establishments and get special use permits for them, too.

Currently, nightclubs, taverns and cocktail lounges do not need a special use permit, which requires presenting information to the planning and zoning commission as well as the city council.

“P and Z is going to have to color outside of this line for this one,” Lum said in regards to how to create a recommendation for the zoning code.

The biggest concern among commissioners came in with how other businesses, such as Applebee’s or other small-town businesses, might be affected by the changes.

Ross made a recommendation that the city staff and city attorney work together to draft definitions of what’s logical for taverns, nightclubs and cocktail lounges. He added suggestions from Commissioner Jane Boyle including looking at distance to residential areas as well as noise.

The report from that meeting would be presented to the commission at the Sept. 19 meeting.

The commissioners approved the recommendation.