City Council votes to allow entertainment in more of city

DOWNEY – The City Council on Tuesday voted 5-0 to allow more restaurants in the city to have live entertainment.

The staff will now begin crafting a new law that would have to be approved before the change goes into affect.

The law would create fairness for restaurants operating legally in land zoned for professional office use, according to Councilman Mario Guerra.

Restaurants are allowed in the professional office zone, but they aren’t allowed to have entertainment, such as dancing, piano or other live music, with the thought being that establishments in the office zone would cater to the lunch crowd and wouldn’t be able to have late-night, noisy events near residential areas.

Other restaurants in the city are allowed to have entertainment as long as they first get a conditional use permit from the city.

The change would allow restaurants in the professional office area to get the permits.

“We had a lot of residential houses there,” Guerra said. “I think our code is antiquated. There’s not that many residential homes.”

Click here to see a zoning map showing all the city’s land uses.

The issue was brought up by Guerra, who specifically asked that the city consider allowing entertainment on Florence Avenue between Lakewood and Paramount boulevards. The City Council decided instead to change the rules for all professional office uses in the city.

The staff report on the proposed change did not name a specific restaurant, but Palms Steak & Seafood is the only restaurant in the area mentioned by Guerra. The restaurant has been hosting live entertainment lately, according to Internet reviews on yelp.com.

Besides the stretch on Florence Avenue, the other area with a substantial amount of professional office use is on Paramount Boulevard near Stewart and Gray Road.