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Commission approves conditional use permit to allow events and limited alcohol service at McRitchie Community Center
Summary
The commission approved Resolution 2026-006 to allow the McRitchie Community Center to be rented for events and to serve alcoholic beverages during those events under conditions; staff said the facility is exempt from CEQA as an existing facility and parking and operational conditions apply.
The Riverbank Planning Commission voted May 19 to approve a conditional use permit allowing the McRitchie Community Center to be rented for events and for alcoholic beverages to be served during those events, adopting Resolution 2026-006 by unanimous vote.
Senior Planner Theresa McDonald told the commission the 1,700-square-foot facility at 660 3rd Street has 15 on-site parking spaces and is zoned downtown core within the downtown specific plan. "As mentioned previously, this is a request for a conditional use permit to allow the existing community center to be rented out for events and for those events to be able to serve alcoholic beverages," McDonald said, adding that the intent is not to allow daily alcohol sales or off-site sales.
McDonald said conditions of approval would require adherence to approved hours of operation, compliance with applicable city and state alcohol-service rules, and measures to avoid nuisance activity and impacts to nearby properties. She said the project was determined to be exempt from environmental review under the existing facilities exemption cited in the staff report (CEQA Guideline 15301).
A commissioner asked whether renters could bring their own alcohol or whether the property owner needed to obtain a license. McDonald explained the responsibility lies with the event host or renter to obtain any necessary ABC license; the housing authority (site owner) would verify that required licenses and any needed security are in place as part of the rental.
With no substantive public opposition and a technical public-comment attempt that suffered audio problems, the commission moved to approve the resolution and voted 5–0. The conditions included in the resolution address hours, cleanliness, compliance with state alcohol requirements, and operational measures meant to limit noise and nuisance impacts.
