Senor Carlos battles city for permit

Carlos Orozco, owner of Senor Carlos Grill and Tequila Lounge, wants to expand the entertainment options at his restaurant in Agoura Hills, but it may not happen now that the Agoura Hills City Council has appealed the planning commission's recent approval of the changes.

Orozco's existing permit allows live entertainment and dancing as an ancillary use, but he wants to expand the lounge's dance floor, offer patrons salsa dance lessons and extend the hours of operation.

City officials had received numerous complaints from residents living near the restaurant about noise, loitering and other issues.

At the continued public hearing on June 4, commissioners asked Orozco about the proposed changes and made some changes of their own.

Orozco wanted the small stage and dance floor to be moved to the center of the restaurant and expanded to 144 and 275 square feet respectively. Commissioners approved a 96squarefoot stage and a 120square-foot dance floor and called for sound buffers to be installed to lessen noise.

Chuck Cohen, Orozco's attorney, said his client "listened well" at the last meeting and made the necessary changes to appease city officials and residents. Moving the stage and dance floor to the middle of the restaurant would lessen the noise, but he balked at the commissioner's suggestion that a full menu be offered at the restaurant until closing each night. He said a full menu should only be offered until 11 p.m. at the latest. After that time a modified menu will be offered.

Orozco agreed to replace gogo dancers with a once-a-week salsa dance instructor. He will continue to offer live DJs and bands as part of the entertainment.

Several residents opposed the changes. Pat McGregor said she was against nightclubs in Agoura Hills.

"We're a bedroom community; we're a family community," McGregor said. "It isn't what you'd normally think of as a family business." She added that since Orozco had already violated the conditions of his previous permit there was no reason he wouldn't violate some of the new rules.

Mary Weisbrock, president of Save Open Space, told commissioners that the city needs to preserve the residential character of neighborhoods. "You're creating a nightclub venue north of the freeway," she said.

Live entertainment will create a precedent, she said.

"We're going to have nightclubs all over the north of the freeway. It doesn't belong here, and it is written in our laws to deny this."

Commissioner Steve Rishoff reminded Weisbrock that live entertainment venues already exist north of the freeway, including Internet Cafe and Cafe 14. However, Weisbrock also pointed out that professional dancers add to the intensity of the use.

"Drinking and late hours are incompatible with residential character," Weisbrock said.

Neighboring resident Barry Bartholomay said there was no "residential buffer" between the restaurant and the surrounding homes.

Robert Slagter said he had been awakened by the loud music, people and cars at the restaurant.

"Many of us have lived here a long time," he said. "It's not what we moved to the city for." Operating hours until 1:30 a.m. and loud music, he said, were "not compatible" with residential neighborhoods. "It's a nightclub."

Initially it seemed that commissioners were going to deny the permit request.

"I think that I haven't changed my mind," Commissioner Curtis Zacuto said. "If it acts like a duck . . . it's a duck," he said, implying that the establishment was more of a nightclub with a restaurant rather than entertainment being secondary.

"I don't support the amendment (and) don't support trying to rework the amendment," Zacuto said.

Commissioner Illece Buckley Weber said the commission had been charged with the task of micromanaging the restaurant and lounge. She, too, said she was not inclined to support a change to the conditional-use permit. Instead, the existing CUP could be amended, she said.

Commissioner Cyrena Nouzille said a cover charge later in the evening for entertainment purposes was a very "nightclubby kind of thing."

"I don't think a nightclub is a compatible use for this neighborhood," Nouzille said.

Commissioner John O'Meara convinced the panel that they could approve the changes with some additional conditions. The hours of operation would be limited until midnight Monday through Wednesday, and on Thursdays through Saturday the place would close at 1:30 a.m. Initially the restaurant would have stayed open on Sundays until midnight, but commissioners changed the cutoff time to 10 p.m.

"It's not a big operation," O'Meara said. "It's not a nightclub." He added that Orozco added security at the request of the city and with the scale of the dance floor and stage reduced, entertainment would be an "ancillary use."

"None of us even envisioned the possibility of a salsa club," O'Meara said. "Our original intent was to have a doo-wop guy in the corner and four or five couples swaying in the wind."

Nevertheless, O'Meara said some entertainment was appropriate, and there was a way to "fashion a CUP that works."

Although the panel unanimously approved the permit, Councilmember John Edelston asked for an appeal at the June 10 City Council meeting.