County inspectors told the Coffee Gallery this week that the coffeehouse had to shut down all open mic performances and entertainment, or lose its conditional use permit, according to coffeehouse owner Julie Sandoval.
The CUP that covers the building at 2029 N. Lake allows entertainment in the back stage, but not in the front, which has become an almost-nightly performance space for music, poetry, comedy, and spoken word. Sandoval said that "Our front stage is not permitted with the CUP and parking variant — the only place to have entertainment is in the back stage."
According to Sandoval, a county inspector was on the site March 4 to look over the building's licensing, and said that the open mic nights were not in compliance with the CUP. "Under the county ordinance, [the front stage] needs an entertainment license," Sandoval said.
"I explained to them and argued with them that the front stage was community people, and just an open mic, and nobody pays to get in here … They said if they saw a clown juggling [we'd be in violation.] Music needs an entertainment license. Poetry needs an entertainment license."
This week, the county left a notice that said that the front stage was not in compliance, Sandoval said. "It said I needed to cease all activity to be within compliance, and definitely they would come and shut me down."
A county shutdown would not only close Sandoval's coffee house, but the Coffee Gallery Backstage, a separate business that operates the performance space in the back, as well as apartments that are in the building.
Requesting a change in the CUP would cost $15,000, said Sandoval — in practical terms, "That's like ten thousand cups of coffee!"
Sandoval says that they engaged an attorney, who took three hours to get through the county's entertainment licensing system, to no avail. "If I continue to operate the front stage right now, it will void out the CUP, and will shut down the backstage," Sandoval said. "It's easier to say, guys, I can't play music right now."
Right now, it looks like the only option is to incorporate open mic nights in the CUP when it is reconsidered in 2012.
Sandoval said that it it saddened her to have to spend all day telling people that the various open mic events — and tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day celebration — were cancelled. "It added a great dimension to the coffee shop. It made it the thing I dreamed of, the community coming into the coffee shop to express themselves — that was my mission statement."
We're trying to contact county officials for comment.
