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Larchmont board approves clearer rules for entertainment permits, adds 'ancillary' language
Summary
The Village Board voted to adopt a local law clarifying entertainment permits, adding language to make entertainment ancillary to a restaurant's primary use and preserving special-permit routes for full entertainment establishments; trustees and business advocates debated whether more objective noise standards are needed.
The Village of Larchmont Board of Trustees on April 27 approved a local law to clarify the village code’s rules for entertainment permits, saying the changes are intended to make clear who issues permits and when an operator should pursue a special permit instead.
The measure, which the board amended to add the words “ancillary/background” to section 147-2(b) as a nonmaterial clarification, aims to distinguish limited, incidental entertainment that is part of an existing restaurant from a business built primarily around live entertainment. “This is purely about a restaurant establishment that wants to have background music during dinner service,” the mayor said while describing the intent of the amendment.
Village Attorney Stout, who worked on the draft, told the board that the entertainment permit is intended for incidental uses and that businesses seeking to operate as full entertainment establishments should apply for a special permit. “If someone is seeking to open that kind of business, you would have to apply for the special permit entertainment designation,” he said, noting the special-permit process references objective noise standards elsewhere in the code.
Arthur Washington, a director of the Chamber of Commerce, urged the board to add more predictable, objective standards such as decibel references to reduce business risk. “The absence of more consistency and predictability and objective standards creates risks for any enterprise that is thinking of opening a business of this type,” Washington said. Other public commenters asked whether the draft was sufficiently clear about what counts as entertainment (for example, live performers, belly dancers or magicians) and whether sound-mitigation conditions should be required.
The board said the change to add the words ancillary/background is not a material revision and will help businesses understand when a permit is required. Trustees noted that existing enforcement and renewal processes allow the board to address violators, including notice, fines, suspension or revocation if permit conditions are broken. After a brief technical correction to a misspelled zoning term, the board voted to adopt the local law.
The board’s action preserves the special-permit path for uses that are primarily entertainment, while clarifying that ordinary restaurants that occasionally provide music are expected to use the entertainment permit and comply with its limits.
The local law amends Village Code section 147-2; trustees said the change is intended to streamline permitting and publicize the requirement so businesses understand when an entertainment permit is necessary.
