White Plains approves changes to cabaret law
After a year of debate over rules for cabarets, the White Plains Common Council has updated the city code to allow certain nightlife establishments to charge cover fees.
The changes to the city code will allow certain proprietors with a cabaret license to charge patrons entrance fees for events, but some businesses will have to get approved for a live entertainment permit with the Department of Public Safety. The changes to the code also allow cabaret performances to start at noon and last until 3 a.m., and increased the annual fee for a cabaret license from $100 up to $500.
Previously, there was no language in the city code regulating whether cabaret operators could charge cover fees, but starting around 2012 each cabaret license had built-in language that operators could not charge at the door, according to Damon A. Amadio, city building commissioner.
- Coliseum, on South Broadway in White Plains, operates under a cabaret license. File photo
A cabaret is defined in the new code as any area where “musical entertainment, singing, dancing or other form of amusement by performers and/or by patrons” is allowed. This type of entertainment is only allowed in restaurants where food service is available during the operation of the cabaret. Businesses that play music through the radio or most electronic devices are not considered cabarets and therefore cannot charge cover fees.
In May, the council passed a zoning ordinance to differentiate small and large cabaret forms of entertainment.
The new zoning rule delineated an “accessory cabaret” as a restaurant where the entertainment does not occupy more than 40 percent of the aggregate floor space, not including the bathrooms. A “primary cabaret” is where the entertainment occupies more than 40 percent of the aggregate floor space. The latter is not allowed to be within 300 feet of a dwelling unit.
If accessory cabarets are interested in having live music events, the operators are required to apply for the live entertainment permit in order to charge patrons an entrance fee. These applications must be submitted to the Department of Public Safety at least 10 days in advance of the intended date of the event. Accessory cabarets may not charge cover fees if they are having DJ entertainment.
Primary cabarets, however, may charge covers for any type of entertainment they are providing, including DJs, and are not required to apply for a permit to host live music.
But depending on the event, Amadio said, the Department of Public Safety may inquire for more information about the event.
Amadio said most, if not all, of the cabaret licenses issued and renewed in the past have been for establishments aligned with the accessory cabaret definition.
Any violations of the cabaret law could result in a fine of up to $2,500 for each offense or imprisonment up to 15 days.
The changes come just over a year after the Common Council passed a moratorium on issuing new cabaret licenses as the city considered potential changes to the cabaret law.
In February, the city tossed around the idea of barring entrance fees and forcing cabarets to close at 1 a.m. Business owners criticized those rules, according to previous reports by the Business Journal, saying the fees are essential in order to cover the cost of entertainment and that early closure times could deter young professionals from moving to White Plains.
Not everyone was pleased with the final outcome.
At a special meeting convened by the Common Council on June 29, Councilwoman Beth Smayda voiced concerns about crowding outside of cabaret establishments.
“Another protection to having unruly crowds would be to not allow queuing outside on the streets, which could cause a lot of language or noise for neighbors,” she said.
In response to her comment at the meeting, Amadio said “queuing is inevitable” if restaurants are allowed to charge at the door.
Mayor Thomas M. Roach said the response to the issue of possible disorderly conduct from people lining up outside is to deny those establishments a permit or cabaret license going forward.
“If you have someone who is continually having a line in the street that”™s disorderly and is a problem, then they”™re not getting another cabaret license because we”™re going to have a history of problems that are associated with it,” he said.
At the Common Council meeting held July 6 to vote on the amendments, Smayda was the only member of the seven-person council who voted against the ordinance.
Councilwoman Nadine Hunt-Robinson said she had some initial concerns about the revisions but that the entertainment permit provides safeguards in a way that “balances out the interests of the businesses that want to have the cabaret” and “balances out with respect to safety and those who live in the surrounding areas.”