09-27-2023 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 Mayor Fischer asked the person representing the Hookah Hideout to provide an overview. Bryan Battina, Attorney for Hookah Hideout, provided the City Council members with handouts that he had prepared. He commented that as outlined, they are requesting that the Council consider a stay of the denial of the renewal application pending the results of the appeal. He noted that within the packet there is a summary of the background and applicable case law that should be considered by the Council. He stated that the Council should consider whether the appeal raises substantial issues, whether there is injury to one or more parties in the absence of stay, and the public interest and potential risk to the public. He noted that each of those elements is addressed in the packet. He stated that they believe that the City Council did not have sufficient evidence to rule the way that it did. He commented that the motion that was adopted and ruled upon, although there was a lot of discussion, there was no discussion about the violations and basis for why the City Council denied the renewal application. He stated that he is not present to argue why the City Council was wrong, but to present their argument, noting that he believes that the Court of Appeals will reverse the decision. He stated that the packet identifies the financial injury to the business as a result of the license denial, including the loss of income ($5,500 per month), continuing to pay employees ($10,000), and updates that were made to comply with the fire code ($15,000). He stated that the packet also addresses public interest, noting that they conducted a random survey of a sampling of the approved establishments at the May 27 City Council meeting. He noted that they pulled police incident reports for tobacco and alcohol license renewals noting that the Hookah Hideout had far less police reports than six of the seven establishments that they compared the business to. He commented that the potential injury to the public is actually less than the other establishments that were granted approval. He noted that those establishments were not questioned in relation to public interest. He asked the Council to seriously consider allowing the business to remain open, pending the results of the appeal, as he believes that the court will reverse the decision of the Council based on how the ruling was made. Mayor Fischer explained the procedure for the hearing. Mayor Fischer opened the public hearing for comments from the general public. John DeRosa, owner of Little Canada Smoke Shop, commented that he would like to address what has occurred since the closing of the Hookah Hideout. He commented that everything has been better since that time noting that the parking lot has been cleaner, the safety concerns and concerns of vandalism have improved, and there have not been any vehicle break ins. He commented that he has had old customers return, explaining that they were not coming to his business because of the Hookah Hideout concerns. He stated that people have also been walking their dogs in that area again. He commented that there was a petition signed by over 100 residents within a few days, the majority of which are business owners in the Thunder Bay strip mall, that oppose the business opening back up. He commented that several emails were also sent in opposition of the business reopening. He commented that since that business has closed, he and his employees have experienced more underage people attempting to purchase tobacco and more people trying to smoke hookah in his stop without correct identification. He commented that the majority of those people are trying to show pictures of identification on their phones and when he explains that they do not accept that form of ID, the person states that they used that form of identification at the Hookah Hideout. He commented that the Thunder Bay strip mall is reestablishing the position that underage sales will not be allowed now that 2