Little Rock club owner Tracy Johnson is going back before the city Board of Directors this week to ask for a second time in as many years to be allowed to extend the hours his business operates.
The board is to vote Tuesday at its 6 p.m. meeting in City Hall on whether to allow Club Trois at 4314 Asher Ave. to stay open until 5 a.m.
Johnson got permission from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in 2013 to lease from the Little Rock Association of the Deaf a Class B liquor permit that allows alcohol sales until 5 a.m., but when he went to the city board that year to amend zoning for his business, the board didn't approve the hours extension.
Club Trois is permitted to operate seven days a week from 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Johnson is seeking a zoning change that would allow him to be open from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Attempts to reach Johnson were unsuccessful. He previously has said he needs to stay open later to compete with nearby businesses. Asher Avenue has a handful of private clubs that stay open until 5 a.m.
After Club Trois' first request to extend its hours in 2013, the city board went into a year-long review and discussion on whether any clubs in the city should be allowed to stay open until 5 a.m. City Directors Brad Cazort and Gene Fortson even did some late-night research, going on two late-night tours -- led by police vice squad detectives -- of all the city's 5 a.m. clubs.
Late last year, the clubs and the city reached an agreement, and the board put in place new regulations that the clubs have to follow. A club must employ at least two off-duty police officers on weekend nights, and the ordinance sets lighting and sign requirements.
"I would not feel comfortable [allowing Club Trois to stay open later], if we didn't have the rules in place that we do, but I think it's a very strict ordinance and if they don't comply, we can very quickly move to address those [issues.] We didn't have that authority in the past," City Manager Bruce Moore told the board at last week's agenda meeting.
The new regulations allow Police Chief Kenton Buckner to put 5 a.m. clubs on probation if certain felonies occur on club property. If problems continue, a club could eventually be forced to close earlier.
Three of the nine Little Rock clubs that now operate with active 5 a.m. licenses have already requested and been granted waivers from the security personnel requirements.
Salute and Midtown Billiards were granted waivers to employ only one off-duty officer on Friday and Saturday nights. Midtown Billiards also was given permission to have no off-duty officers on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday and Robert E. Lee's Birthday in January, George Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day in February, and Veterans Day in November. The Fraternal Order of the Eagles, which usually closes by midnight, was granted a waiver to employ no officers on any night.
Moore told the board last week that Club Trois already meets all but the sign requirement under the new regulations, something Johnson has agreed to remedy.
At-large City Director Joan Adcock and Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright questioned allowing Club Trois to become the city's 10th operating 5 a.m. club. Both said they were under the impression that the city wouldn't allow any more clubs to operate that late.
The president of the Love Neighborhood Association wrote a letter to the city saying that more people at the club would raise more problems and that other 2 a.m. clubs on Asher Avenue would want to extend their hours if Club Trois gets the hours extension.
"Approval of this extension has trouble written all over it," President Rhonda Ross wrote.
The state no longer issues Class B permits that allow alcohol sales until 5 a.m., but permit-holders can transfer their licenses to other businesses.
In Club Trois' case, Johnson took over as manager of the Little Rock Association of the Deaf's license.
Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix, who is black, said late-night clubs set up only in "the black community" and contribute to crime.
"Do we have 5 a.m. clubs in the River Market? I told those boys down there the other day, we can always put 5 a.m.s in the black community."
Moore, who is also black, interrupted her, saying, "Let's just stop." He pointed out that an applicant decides where to locate a business, not the city.
There was objection in 2011 when the deaf association tried to lease its 5 a.m. permit to Juanita's Cafe and Bar in the River Market District. After objections from the mayor, Police Department, library system and others, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board refused to allow the lease.
Despite Moore's interruption, Hendrix continued.
"Where does your killing come from? Our community. In the late hours, the drunkenness. You can say what you want to. I have a problem when every time Chief Buckner sends somebody out, it's to pick up one of us," she said.
Cazort said that because of his tour of the clubs he could testify that they are not only in communities predominantly populated by black people.
Mayor Mark Stodola said allowing Club Trois to extend its hours is "an issue of fundamental fairness." Fortson agreed, saying the board shouldn't discriminate and, "If we approved one to start with, we have to approve the others."
Metro on 02/01/2015