Tacoma committee approves after-hours club licensing framework with safety-plan, surveillance requirements

The Government Performance & Finance Committee voted June 3 to send to the full City Council a package creating a new after-hours club license that would regulate social clubs operating between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. and amend entertainment-license chapters 6B.70 and 6B.80 to clarify enforcement and regulated areas.

Danielle Larson, tax and license manager, told the committee the license responds to a small number of after-hours venues that staff and police say have generated serious incidents and neighborhood complaints. Larson said the three most-recent after-hours venues that operated past 2 a.m. were associated with 27 offenses over five years, including four homicides and multiple aggravated assaults. "By adding this license, it gives the city a tool to ensure that there are safety measures in place, and we can summarily close the business until they choose to come into compliance with the license requirements," Larson said.

Under the proposed after-hours club license: live entertainment and dancing would be prohibited between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.; recorded music would be permitted; applicants must submit a written safety plan that Tax & License and the Tacoma Police Department must approve; surveillance would be required at each point of entry; at least two security personnel would be required during operating hours; and staff recommended measures such as metal detectors in some circumstances. An on-site inspection by police and Tax & License would be required before a license could be approved; if a business denied an inspection, the application would be denied and the business could not operate.

Larson said the annual fee for the license is $300 to cover inspection, criminal-background checks on applicants, and administrative review. The proposed amendments also clarify that outdoor areas under the control of an establishment (its curtilage) are part of the regulated premises and that entertainment regulations differ depending on whether the establishment is licensed to serve alcohol by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Corey Darlington of the Tacoma Police Department’s community-policing division told the committee that Tacoma has had a small number of problematic after-hours sites and detailed recent incidents at one location, Night Owl Tavern, including shootings and assaults earlier in 2025. "We can't prevent everything, but we feel like...it’s a good step forward to try to have a tool or attempt to regulate some of the activity there," Darlington said.

Committee members asked about zoning, occupancy limits (fire/occupancy code controls capacity), whether requirements would apply to private clubs, video-camera quality and retention standards, and how to address disturbances occurring in adjacent parking areas or sidewalks. Larson said staff can add rule-level definitions (for example, a baseline video-quality standard and retention period) and will work with risk and police for operational details. Council members discussed that some late-night events—such as broadcasts of overseas sporting events—could be legitimate uses and asked whether the code should allow one-off or special-event extensions; staff said the proposed package contains a permanent license at a $300 annual fee and does not create a temporary-event option as part of this amendment.

A committee member moved to forward the after-hours and entertainment-code amendments to the full City Council for consideration. The committee approved the motion by voice vote. Staff said the amendments will appear for first reading at full council on June 24 and second reading on July 1.