Sept 6, 2001 Healdsburg Bar and Grill Hearing.

Where do we begin? Do you remember the big noise controversy caused by the Healdsburg Bar and Grill's super amplified outdoor music back in the summer of 2001? Well that resulted in complaints from all over town. The most vocal complaints came from The Hotel Healdsburg staff and owners. The result was a Planning commission meeting on September 6, 2001 to discuss a "90 Day Permit", and determine what kind of ordinance the city should develop to control this "noise". Mr. John Holt, developer and part owner of the Hotel suggested the city adopt the City of Mill Valley's noise ordinance. This is where our story begins. Read the minutes of that famous meeting here.

The Healdsburg Planning Commission met in special session, called to order by Chairperson White at

PUBLIC HEARING – CONTINUED Director Spitler presented the staff report on this

THE HEALDSBURG BAR & GRILL allow staff time to prepare findings and conditions 2

outdoor patio area at 245 Healdsburg Avenue due to the number of complaints the City received regarding excessive noise from the events, incompatibility with other uses and events on the Plaza and crowd control in relation to health and safety issues. Director Spitler stated that staff had prepared a resolution at the request of the Commission that recommended approval of the Healdsburg Bar and Grill use permit, which included numerous conditions to address issues of concern as best they can, including management of alcohol service in the patio area, stage design, noise attenuation and crowd control. He briefly reviewed the conditions for approval and stated that staff had prepared two resolutions, one for approval and one for denial. He advised that staff had received several letters of opposition to the proposed use permit; two from Greg Bye, General Manager of the neighboring Healdsburg Hotel, and one distributed prior to the meeting from John Holt, partner in the development of the hotel.

Commissioner Cohen asked about the Mill Valley noise ordinance that had been submitted by John Holt, which Mr. Holt believed should be used to revised Healdsburg’s noise ordinance. Director Spitler agreed that the Mill Valley ordinance was much more sophisticated and thorough, one worthy of consideration.

Chairperson White asked if the City was aware that Healdsburg Bar and Grill would be having outdoor live music when they opened for business. Director Spitler replied that staff knew nothing about these events until days before the first was to be held, which had to be permitted under a special event permit. He added that at that time the applicant was informed that such events required a conditional use permit.

Merritt Sher, developer of the neighboring Healdsburg Hotel, expressed concern about loud, outdoor musical events being held directly across the street from his hotel. He said he didn’t really have any problem with the temporary use permit, since the musical events would be over by the time the hotel opened for business. Mr. Sher asked if the Commission could add a condition that the applicant’s musical event scheduled for October 7th not begin before 5:00 p.m., as the hotel would be having their own special event at the same time. He said that he would be concerned if granting the temporary use permit would set a precedent or establish certain rights to continue the use on a permanent basis without regard to impacts on surrounding uses. However, Mr. Sher said he had known the applicant, Charles Evans, for quite some time and felt confident that they could work everything out.

John Holt, local developer and resident, noted that not only was he a partner in the development of the hotel but also had recently received approval to construct a mixed use, residential/retail building directly across the street from the Healdsburg Bar and Grill. He emphasized that he was not only concerned about noise affecting the hotel but the residential units that he would be constructing across the street. Mr. Holt believed Healdsburg’s ordinance wasn’t tight enough to be able to address the noise issues that had been raised and had submitted Mill Valley’s noise ordinance to staff in the hopes that some of its language could be incorporated into Healdsburg’s ordinance. He agreed with Mr. Sher, in that he was not really opposed to granting a 90-day use permit, which would allow Healdsburg Bar and Grill a trial period to resolve all the issues that had been raised by staff and the neighbors. Mr. Holt noted that they had been working closely with the Bear Republic Brewing Co., located north of the hotel, to minimize impacts from their indoor musical events. Mr. Holt added that Felix and Louie’s restaurant has indoor music events that have not caused anyone concern, simply because they have kept the doors and windows closed during these events.

Greg Bye, General Manager of the Healdsburg Hotel, agreed with the previous statements and asked that the Commission also consider the impacts of the indoor musical events (which continue until late at night) in relation to hotel use next door, considering that the windows and doors of the Healdsburg Bar and Grill were often left open during these events, creating a substantial amount of noise.

Elaine North, 411 Tucker Street, said she was in opposition to the requested use permit because the noise from the outdoor events was much too loud. She said that she often attended musical events in the Plaza and the volume of noise from these events was much, much less than the noise generated from the Healdsburg Bar and Grill. Ms. North added that she did not see how it would be pleasant for people staying at the hotel or living nearby to be forced to listen to this music.

Charles Evans, applicant and partner in the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, said he had no problem with working under a 90-day temporary use permit if it would alleviate staff and the neighbor’s concerns. However, since there seemed to be a lot of pressure on staff to develop conditions of approval so that the use permit could go forward on a trial basis, and since the hotel and others had expressed concern about the outdoor music, Mr. Evans said he would be willing to cancel the two upcoming events and continue this item until everyone felt comfortable that all the issues had been addressed. Mr. Evans was also concerned that the conditions established were not specific enough for either he or the City to determine if the events were in violation. In addition, construction of the stages, the wall around the perimeter of the patio and other work to meet the conditions would take time to do “right,” and he did not see how this could be accomplished in the time frame allowed. Mr. Evans pointed out, however, that the Healdsburg Bar and Grill had been a restaurant/bar for a long, long time, before either the hotel or the residential/retail building across the street had ever been considered.

Commissioner Eddinger said he would prefer to allow the Healdsburg Bar and Grill a 90-day temporary use permit, which would give everyone the opportunity to judge the impacts of the outdoor musical events.

After a brief discussion, Commissioner Cohen made a motion to continue Minor Use Permit UP01-5 to allow outdoor amplified music at the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, at the request of the applicant. Commissioner Worden seconded the motion and it passed on a roll call vote of 3-1, with Commissioners Worden, Cohen and Chairperson White voting to continue and Commissioner Eddinger voting against, with Commissioners Brush, Baldenhofer and Small noted as absent.