PORTSMOUTH — City leaders adopted new regulations for nightclubs, restaurants and entertainment venues looking to serve late-night crowds in Portsmouth.
It’s a move Portsmouth City Council members say will address public safety concerns stemming from past violent incidents like shootings and fights involving late-night crowds at venues across the city. The vote at Tuesday’s meeting was to update the city’s zoning and enforcement regulations and lay out expectations for venue owners. It comes amid a wave of applications in recent months to establish entertainment venues and event spaces.
Council members Vernon Tillage and Yolanda Thomas voted against the changes, taking issue with the limitations placed on outside promoters and hours of operation, respectively.
Portsmouth looked to Norfolk in crafting the regulation changes. Norfolk began cracking down on its late-night venues in 2022 following a shooting outside Legacy Restaurant and Lounge that injured four people, including a Norfolk sheriff’s deputy. The crackdown sparked allegations of racial bias — which the city denied — as four shuttered venues had primarily Black or Latino clientele.
Portsmouth’s regulations will apply to all new restaurants serving alcohol after midnight, entertainment establishments, event spaces and banquet halls, civic and fraternal clubs, and private clubs. City Attorney Lavonda Graham-Williams said the changes provide enforcement measures and will allow council to act more swiftly if any use permit needs to be revoked due to a public safety or health concern. Zoning permits can also be revoked, with a six-month restriction for reapplication.
The city cannot apply to the standards to existing venues, but Portsmouth plans to push for passage of state legislation that would allow the city to periodically review permits for already established businesses. The changes could still apply to any existing establishment that has a permit revoked or suspended, according to Graham-Williams.
Under the new rules, entertainment establishments will only be able to operate between the hours of 8 a.m. and midnight, with no outside promoters or third-party events. Owners would be required to soundproof entries and exits and submit security plans, including ID checks, coordination with local police and weapons screenings.
Restaurants serving alcohol after midnight are bound to similar requirements, but they must also maintain video surveillance, restrict outdoor amplified noise after 10 p.m., and provide adequate lighting. Casinos with restaurants would be excluded from these new regulations.
During a Monday work session, Tillage took issue with the restrictions placed on hours of operation, noting that a cutoff of midnight would be “detrimental” amid ongoing plans to build up its waterfront, new innovation and entertainment districts.
But city staff said council could consider on a case-by-case basis an applicant’s request to extend its hours of operation, determined based on the impact of extended hours on the surrounding area, like nearby neighborhoods.
If any entertainment establishments see two or more “violent incidents” within the same year, City Council will automatically review those permits and consider revoking them. The term “violent incidents” is intentionally broad in the ordinance, Graham-Williams said, so as not to limit what could be deemed violent by a zoning administrator, Zoning Board of Appeals or a court. A rowdy customer, for example, may not meet that threshold.
But council is granting a little more grace for restaurants serving alcohol after midnight, as the council wants to focus primarily on entertainment establishments. Permits could be revoked for such restaurants if they see three or more verified police responses within a year for alcohol-related issues or disorderly conduct and fights.
“(The) violence generally occurs after hours in a nightclub environment where people had too much to drink they get into some type of melee,” Mayor Shannon Glover said at a Monday work session.
Event spaces and banquet halls must comply with the same standards for entertainment establishments. Venue owners must ensure renters comply with alcohol licenses or risk having their use permit revoked.
Private clubs, including those that host civic, social and fraternal clubs but also have an ABC alcohol license and regularly charge for alcohol sales, must adhere to similar security measures for entertainment establishments. New club members will now face a seven-day waiting period, and the venues can’t co-locate with other restaurants, entertainment or event spaces.
The public’s support was a mixed bag Tuesday, where City Hall chambers were nearly full. Several speakers raised concerns with the few entertainment venues clustered in the George Washington Highway corridor at Williams Court, citing loud noise and gun shots.
“We are terrified,” said Portsmouth resident Vincent Majors, who lives within 800 yards of the shopping center. “We can’t sleep. Our bedrooms are being shot up.”
“Norfolk and Virginia Beach don’t have these problems,” Majors added. “Why? Because Norfolk and Virginia Beach got rid of this riff raff.”
Others disagreed with the restriction on outside promoters and said the measures were “discriminatory” against Black business owners. One resident said she wants to see more entertainment options in Portsmouth, especially for those aged 55 and older.
After voting on the changes, council approved two of the three applications for entertainment and event spaces that had previously been deferred as council drafted new regulations. Those include requests for an entertainment establishment at 4806 George Washington Highway and an event space and banquet hall at 6031 High Street West.
Council denied an application for an entertainment establishment at 1805 Hodges Ferry Road after the applicant did not agree to a weekday closing time of midnight instead of 2 a.m.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com