Commission sets hearing on Buzz

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH--The city Planning Commission has set a hearing for Nov.

9 to determine if the owners of Buzz Restaurant should lose their

business permit.

When commissioners approved the permit in May 1998, it included a

waiver for 41 parking spaces on the basis that most of the restaurant’s

second floor would be used for interactive video and sports games.

Parking requirements for game arcades are lower than those for

restaurants.

Earlier this year, the restaurant’s owners apparently removed the

games and turned the floor into a dance area, bar and food service area.

City officials contend that change no longer fits within the approved

permit.

“We believe that there are grounds for a revocation hearing,” city

Planning Director Patricia Temple told the commission Thursday.

Commissioners also must determine if a high number of disturbances at

the restaurant in the 3400 block of Via Oporto should be an issue in

considering its business license.

Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 41 calls for service and 75

officer-initiated activities occurred at the restaurant, according to a

Newport Beach Police Department memorandum.

As a result, 29 people have been arrested at or immediately adjacent

to the restaurant.

The incidents include a patron who was struck with a beer bottle

during a fight, an alleged rape of a patron by a bartender and the arrest

of a patron in connection with lewd conduct on Buzz’s dance floor.

Michael Cho, an attorney for Buzz’s owners, requested that a hearing

be postponed until November. City officials had recommended that

commissioners hold a hearing Oct. 19.

“I’m taken back a little bit about the timing of the issue,” said Cho,

adding that the restaurant’s general manager had met with city officials

to resolve the problems.

Hospitality Management Inc., a Newport Beach-based company, took over

management of the restaurant in May, Cho said.

“They inherited a huge mess,” he said, adding that the new management

had agreed to refuse entry to new patrons after 12:30 a.m. and had fired

the old management and staff of the restaurant to stop some of Buzz’s

problems.

Cho said the city’s analysis of the restaurant found there are enough

parking spaces to operate the business as either a game arcade or

restaurant.