Wednesday’s special City Council meeting has been canceled due to the lack of a quorum.
A quorum is the minimum number of members that must be present at the meeting to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.
The City Council was scheduled to discuss a settlement in a lawsuit between a billiard hall and the City in closed session.
Last week, the City Council in closed session approved a settlement that would allow Crown City Billiards & Lounge, also known as Jerry’s Billiards, which has been in operation since 1985, to stay open from 11 to 12:15 a.m. and until 1 a.m. on the weekend.
The settlement also requires management to post signs on the back door prohibiting customers from loitering, causing disturbances or making loud noises in the parking lot after 10 p.m.
Management would also be required to keep the back door locked and not allow customers to congregate after 10 p.m.
The terms did not sit well neighbors who have complained about loitering and noise at the business.
“What a disappointment the City Council is about to rule in favor of ignoring the passionate testimony and pleas of its own citizens kept awake by noise and other erratic behavior and of also ignoring two failed appeals by a pool hall owner from El Monte to stay open past midnight destroying the peace and quiet of the neighborhood while lowering the value of all adjacent properties,” wrote Neil Larson. “Instead the City Council is leaning toward allowing this pool hall to stay open as late as 1 a.m. in the morning despite all arguments against it because, as the result of a lawsuit from Jerry’s Billiards, ‘the Council agreed to avoid expenditure of public resources on further litigation.’”
According to the agenda staff report, The settlement was approved “to avoid expenditure of public resources on further litigation” in last week’s meeting.
It is not known if the meeting will be rescheduled. Monday’s City Council has been canceled due to the Labor Day Holiday.
The City Council unanimously upheld the earlier Board of Zoning Appeals’ decision to limit the hours of operation of a long-time local billiards hall, requiring it to close at 10 p.m..
In September 2022, the City’s Zoning Administrator determined that Crown City Billiards & Lounge, formerly and popularly known as Jerry’s Family Billiards, should operate between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. as required by the Zoning Code, which states that commercial uses on a site located within 150 feet of a residential zoning district may only operate between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
The Zoning Administrator’s determination was initiated after the City’s Code Compliance Division issuance of a citation in April 2022, indicating that the business was operating beyond 10 p.m., in violation of the Zoning Code.
A Conditional Use Permit is needed in order for the establishment to operate beyond 10 p.m.
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