Modesto nightclub owners challenge county permit denial | Modesto Bee

The future of a well-established nightclub on Crows Landing Road is in doubt after a Stanislaus County tax collector’s decision to deny a permit emptied the dance floor.

Attorney Armando Flores, representing the El Paraiso nightclub, said the decision in July denying a dance hall permit effectively shut down the bar and nightclub in south Modesto, which drew many customers with its live music and dancing.

Owners Jorge Bustos and Juvenal Alvarado are appealing Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors, with support from South Modesto Businesses United, a group that promotes Crows Landing Road merchants.

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“This is an unusual process, having to deal with an agency that does not have to explain what they do and why they do it,” Flores said. “They can put a business owner out of business without the opportunity to be heard.”

Flores said El Paraiso is a source of income for two families, as well as employees who worked at the nightclub.

Treasurer-Tax Collector Gordon Ford said applications for dance hall permits and renewals are submitted to his office and he’s required to seek advice from the Sheriff’s Department before issuing the permits.

El Paraiso was initially granted the permit in 2002, but for a 2014 renewal, the Sheriff’s Department required the owners to reduce law enforcement calls to the property, which is south of Hatch Road, by putting in extra lighting and security cameras and working more closely with food vendors in the large parking lot.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, those measures did not have the desired effect. In the past two years, there were 84 law enforcement calls at the nightclub and 874 calls for service in areas immediately surrounding the business. The incidents included assaults, robberies, other violent crimes and property crimes, a report says.

Sheriff’s Capt. James Gordon said some of the trouble occurs when people gather around the food vendors in the parking lot. For example, a stabbing incident in August 2015 sent several people to hospitals. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control cited the nightclub for liquor license violations in November 2015.

“Customers go into the parking lot after hours, they are intoxicated, and fights and other incidents erupt,” Gordon said. “We have to consider the neighbors around there and look at the public safety component of the neighborhood.”

Ford said that after he denied the dance hall permit, he assumed the applicants would talk with sheriff’s officials about additional steps to improve safety, but they exercised their right to appeal to the Board of Supervisors.

Cynthia Ruiz, administrative assistant for South Modesto Businesses United, said the group is supporting Bustos and Alvarado because they are longstanding business owners in the area. She said other merchants in the association have not had complaints about El Paraiso.

“The complaints are random calls from the vicinity, which has a problem with crime, but are not just aimed at El Paraiso,” Ruiz said. “Just because they are calling about things happening on the street, it is not necessarily the dance club causing those things.”

Flores said the Sheriff’s Department is exaggerating the issue of 911 calls. The Modesto attorney said he was not able to get more details on the calls from authorities. “It’s a failure to communicate,” Flores said. “If there had been a record of this many calls, there would have been additional efforts by my clients to address it, such as more security guards.”

Flores said the dance customers are people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who enjoy Mexican music. The bands play Norteño-style music and banda. “It’s the only place in Modesto where Spanish-speaking people have a dance hall with live music,” Flores said.

The county Planning Department originally gave approval in 1993 for El Paraiso to operate as a bar. Every three years, the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office renewed the license for the business, which changed to a bar and nightclub in 1996. A separate permit, first issued in 2002, allowed the business to operate as a dance hall.

According to county planning officials, El Paraiso should have been required to obtain a land-use permit when the nightclub was added in 1996. Even if supervisors are lenient with the business Tuesday, the owners may need to apply to county planners for approval of the nightclub before a dance permit is issued.

Supervisor Jim DeMartini, whose district includes Crows Landing Road, said some of the reported crimes have been significant. “They don’t have a use permit that is required because they are so close to a residential area,” the supervisor said. “Even if they resolved the problems with crime, the zoning would require a use permit that is hard to get.”