Every person, society, club, firm or corporation desiring a license to operate a public dance hall shall make application to the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses. Each application shall be in the form prescribed by the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses, and shall contain the name, residence, occupation and age of the applicants if individuals, and if a firm or partnership, the name or names, residences and occupations of the manager and each member of the firm or partnership, and if a corporation, the names of its officers and manager. The application shall also contain the location of such public dance hall, academy, room, place or restaurant, the street and number of all entrances, and shall be accompanied by a plat showing the arrangement of the rooms and amount of floor space to be used for dancing. Such application shall be filed at least ten (10) days prior to the time of granting such license. The Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses shall transmit such application for inspection and investigation to the Commissioner of Building, the Division of Environmental Health and Sanitation, the Division of Fire, the Inspector of Dance Halls, and the Director of Public Safety. The Building Commissioner, Division of Environmental Health and Sanitation, Division of Fire, Inspector of Dance Halls and Director of Public Safety shall, after such inspection and investigation as they may deem necessary, make a report with recommendation for the approval or disapproval of such application. If such application is approved, the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses shall issue a license on the payment of the proper fee provided herein; but no such application shall be approved in which the dance hall does not comply with all of the provisions of existing ordinances governing sanitary conditions, fire protection and health regulations. The application shall be rejected if the reports submitted thereon show that any of the persons named in the application are not of good moral character; or that any of such persons have previously been connected with a public dance hall where the license has been revoked; or where any provision with reference to public dance halls has been violated; or that the dance hall sought to be licensed does not comply with the health and fire regulations applicable thereto; or that it is not properly ventilated and supplied with separate and convenient toilet facilities for each sex; or that it is not a safe and proper place for the purpose for which it is contemplated to be used. If the application is rejected, the license applicant shall be forthwith notified in writing of the reasons for rejection and shall have the right to appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals established pursuant to Charter Section 76-6. The Board shall have power, after full hearing, to affirm, modify or reverse the finding of the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses and the judgment of such Board shall be final. In case of appeal to such Board, the applicant shall, within ten (10) days after notice of such rejection, perfect his or her appeal by leaving notice in writing of his or her intention to appeal at the office of the Director of Law. Such Board shall thereafter set a time and place for such hearing, which shall not be more than ten (10) days from the date of filing such notice of appeal and the appellant may be represented by counsel. No applicant to whom a license has been refused shall make further application until a period of at least six (6) months has elapsed since the last previous rejection, unless he or she can show that the reason for such rejection no longer exists. No license shall be granted to a person under twenty-one (21) years of age, or to any person who is not a citizen of the United States and the State, or renewed without a re-inspection of the premises.
(Ord. No. 94275. Passed 5-11-31)