Owners of a local nightclub thought they had their alcohol permit in order, but were told Thursday they were wrong.
The Skyzoo nightclub opened in October on Lee Highway in the building formerly housing The Pulse. Its owners believed they had a “special exceptions permit” that allowed them to sell alcohol past 11 p.m. and up to 3 a.m.
PDF: Nightclub Ordinance
But at Thursday’s meeting of the Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board, Skyzoo’s owners were told that the permit the board gave them earlier this year didn’t qualify as a special exceptions permit because it wasn’t approved by the City Council.
“We are advising them that, if they sell alcohol past 11 p.m., they will be in violation of … City Code,” Chattanooga Zoning Official Richard Hutsell told the board.
Skyzoo managers quickly left the meeting and could not be reached for comment Thursday. But the club’s attorney, Doug Cox, contested the ruling.
“These folks have made an exceptional investment in this property and in this business,” he told the board, “and I think it would be unfair for the board to go this morning and pull that from them.”
Hutsell said the club still can sell alcohol up to 11 p.m.
The council created the special exemptions permit in 2009 to make sure that nightclubs don’t negatively affect surrounding neighborhoods, businesses and public facilities.
But the City Council has put a moratorium on such permits because it wants to rewrite the ordinance. As it stands, restaurants also must apply for the permits, which officials said wasn’t intended.
“[The ordinance] had issues in a couple directions,” said Councilman Peter Murphy. “Some council members wanted to tighten it up; other council members wanted to liberalize it and try to distinguish the fact that we weren’t actually attempting to regulate, for example, a Buffalo Wild Wings.”
It was unclear Thursday when the moratorium would end.
The Pulse closed in February and Skyzoo received its permit in May, Hutsell said. If Skyzoo had opened in May instead of October, the permit would be valid, he said, because city law allows a new club to use the previous club’s permit within 100 days of the previous business’ closure.