Aurora committee holds ordinance updating pool-room and amusement-device rules

Tracy Vasek, Aurora's zoning and planning director, presented a text amendment to Chapter 8 aimed at updating the city's pool‑room and amusement‑device rules, noting the last update was in 1998. "The text amendment, we did add video gaming consoles into the definition of amusement devices in order to regulate them like other machines," Vasek said, explaining the proposal would let staff regulate systems that operate like other amusement devices and would permit pool rooms in B‑2 zoning if they meet criteria.

The amendment would require that pool‑room licenses be issued only to establishments that operate as full‑service restaurants and hold a valid liquor license, and it would bar pool rooms from closing to the public for private events. Vasek described a threshold that treats four or fewer tables as an accessory use while five or more would be considered a pool room that requires a license. City Clerk Jennifer Stallings clarified liquor‑license distances that still apply: "Currently, the distance for liquor license is 100 feet from a church, grade school, middle school, alternative school, or high school, hospital, or home for indigent persons. And then the for residential, it is 500 feet." Committee members asked about maximum tables, seating minimums and the public‑process for license approval; staff said there is no citywide maximum number of tables, seating/occupancy is controlled by fire‑marshal rules, and pool‑room licensing will be handled through Revenue and Collections without a separate public hearing. After additional questions and requests to gather neighborhood input, the committee voted to hold the item and will take it up again in two weeks.