Standard restaurants located in the “C-N” Neighborhood Convenience District may be allowed to offer or provide live entertainment performances if the Board of Adjustment makes the required findings for the granting of a conditional use permit, which permit shall be subject to the following conditions together with any additional conditions of approval that the Board may find to be necessary and appropriate.
(A) Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow live entertainment in any drinking place, or the exposure of specified anatomical areas or the conduct of adult entertainment of any kind, as either a principal use or as an accessory to a restaurant use, at any time or in any location.
(B) The entertainment shall be provided concurrently with or upon completion of the serving of restaurant meals to the restaurant’s customers, as opposed to entertainment being provided to an audience that is generally separate and distinct from customers who consumed a restaurant meal or in a portion of the premises where the consumption of restaurant meals is not the primary use of the space.
(C) (1) An application for a conditional use permit to provide live entertainment shall include a description of the general nature and type of the restaurant and the entertainment. Such description shall become a binding set of conditions on the permit, and shall not be altered or deviated from, except for adjustments to menu offerings or prices that may be necessary from time to time to cover customary restaurant expenses or to respond to customer tastes and preferences.
(2) The application for a permit shall at a minimum include a description of the following.
(a) The restaurant proprietor’s certification that the business will in fact be operated as a standard restaurant, herein defined and distinguished from a drinking place as being an operation that will at all times receive not less than 60% of its net operating revenues from the sale of meals that are prepared and consumed on the premises, along with non-alcoholic beverages served in conjunction with the meals, as opposed to alcoholic beverages or any other legal intoxicants or stimulants.
(b) Days of the week and the daily starting and ending times when entertainment will be provided; and the general duration of any single performance if more than one show or session will be provided in any single day.
(c) Type of entertainment, whether instrumental music, individual singer, singing group or band, dance, comedy, theatrical, readings, talk or speech, performance art or some other specified type; the usual number of performers in any individual session or offering; and whether the performers are in-house, expected to visit repeatedly at some regular frequency, or are short-stay performers who may or may not perform again at the restaurant on another occasion.
(d) Whether the restaurant customers will be required to pay a charge or fee of any sort, regardless of whether the charge or fee is separate or is levied through increased prices for food or drinks on days when live entertainment is being provided, and including a description of any alterations or deviations from the restaurant’s customary menu and pricing that may be instituted relative to the times when entertainment is being offered, together with any other information that may be necessary to determine fees or charges related to the provision of live entertainment.
(e) Any additional information that the Department of Community Development may find necessary to adequately evaluate the application and advise the Board as to its merits.
(D) (1) A permit shall run only with the person who is the proprietor of the restaurant at the time of application for a permit, and shall not run with the land or the operation of a restaurant under a succession of proprietors. Such permit shall not be transferable to another proprietor, and shall immediately expire with any change to the restaurant proprietor changes or substantial alteration of the restaurant operations. Each permit shall be valid for not more than five years after the date of the Board’s approval, provided that the permit may be administratively extended by the Department of Community Development for an additional five years if the restaurant’s provision of live entertainment has been in full compliance with all requirements and regulations for the duration of the initial five years of validity.
(2) This provision shall not be construed to prohibit a proprietor from applying for a new permit or further extension of an existing permit, nor to prohibit a new proprietor or substantially altered restaurant operation from applying for its own first-time permit in accordance with all of the requirements of this section.
(E) The entertainment performance and all sounds emanating from or related to the performance shall be limited to and contained within the interior of the restaurant building or tenancy, as the case may be. Sound from or associated with the performance shall not be intentionally transmitted to any outdoor areas, nor allowed to be of such volume, character, or nature that it is discernable at the boundaries of the parcel on which the restaurant is located, whether intentional or unintentional. All windows and doors shall remain closed at all times during performances, and during preparations before and after performances, to minimize the incidental transmission of sound.
(F) (1) A permit shall immediately be suspended on a temporary basis, to be followed by a public hearing before the Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting following publication and notice in accordance with the requirements for a new permit application, upon a determination by city staff that any of the following appears to have occurred:
(a) Misrepresentation of any material fact in an application for a permit;
(b) Any change in the ownership, proprietorship or interest in the business which was not reported to the Department of Community Development; or
(c) Any event which would have resulted in disqualification from receiving the permit when originally issued.
(2) Following its public hearing and a finding that any of the above are factual, the Board may thereafter revoke the conditional permit either temporarily or permanently.
(G) (1) Habitual violations of any one or combination of the following, habitual being defined for the purpose of this section as more than two incidents in any calendar month or more than six in any calendar year, as substantiated by city staff, shall be grounds for immediate suspension of the permit on a temporary basis, to be followed by a public hearing before the Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting following publication and notice in accordance with the requirements for a new permit application:
(a) Habitual noise or other nuisance disturbances originating from the restaurant or its patrons;
(b) Habitual violation of the restaurant’s maximum capacity as established by the Zoning, Building or Fire Codes, or limitations placed on the permit by the Board of Adjustment;
(c) Inadequate parking, as evidenced by vehicles being parked in landscaping areas; in circulation aisles or fire lanes; on the street; or on adjoining properties for which no formal arrangements exist with the owners thereof to allow such parking;
(d) Illicit drug use or sales, vandalism, unlawful assembly or other criminal activity occurring on or near the restaurant premises that the Urbandale Police Department or other law enforcement officials finds to be caused by or associated with the restaurant or its patrons; or
(e) Violations of liquor control regulations, regardless of whether such violations result in suspension or revocation of the restaurant’s liquor license.
(2) Following the Board’s public hearing and a finding that allegations of habitual violations are factual, the Board may thereafter revoke the conditional permit either temporarily or permanently, or place whatever additional conditions upon the permit that it finds necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare and to advance the City Council’s intent to allow live entertainment in such restaurants only if such operations do not create ongoing disturbances or nuisances for residents or nearby property owners.