El Cajon planning panel revokes Palms restaurant’s banquet permit after repeated private events

The El Cajon Planning Commission voted 3-2 on June 17 to adopt a resolution revoking Conditional Use Permit 2115 for the Palms Restaurant and Banquet Hall, concluding the site had been operated more frequently as a private event facility than as the restaurant use the council approved.

Staff planner Noah Alvey told the commission that staff opened the CUP review after receiving a complaint and that inspections beginning December 2023 showed the business was not operating primarily as a restaurant. “Over the course of that, I prepared ... a synopsis of those events,” Alvey said, noting he made 20 site visits and observed private events on eight occasions — roughly 40% of visits — and that on multiple visits windows were screened so the interior was not visible. Staff recommended revocation at the hearing.

The finding before commissioners was narrow: whether the use on the ground matched the restaurant-with-occasional-banquet approval adopted by the City Council in 2010. Alvey told the commission, “So what you're being asked to do tonight is to look at whether or not the conditional use…