A vote on whether to permit a new bar downtown turned into a full-on moratorium on Downtown bar permits Tuesday night.
City council members voted 3-2 to deny the permit for Plush Syndicate, a proposed nightclub that became part of a debate over capacity constraints, policing and the need for tighter regulation downtown.
With Plush Syndicate, applicant Quintin Borel sought to open a new business to replace Bliss Cocktail Lounge, located on the corner of Jefferson and Cypress streets, which closed after the shooting death of its owner, Lulu Carter, in December.
That application placed him right in the middle of a larger conversation about the way forward for Downtown and whether new bars should be a part of it.
Downtown Development Authority CEO Kevin Blanchard has argued that the city should pause the permitting of new bars downtown and review its standards, particularly when it comes to safety.
“The number one feedback that we get from all our visitors, from all of our businesses is that it does not feel safe after 9 o’clock Downtown,” Blanchard told the council.
Blanchard pointed to a fatal Halloween night stabbing incident as an example. “The police do a remarkable job but I want to tell you that there were 39 officers on Halloween night and there were still three people stabbed on Jefferson Street,” he said.
One person, 33-year-old Damon Martin, died in the attack.
Police too have voiced concerns over the permitting of new bars downtown.
While Police Chief Paul Trouard projected confidence in law enforcement’s ability to police Downtown nightlife at Tuesday’s meeting, the police department has previously objected to at least one permit application.
In March, the city council denied a permit for the proposed Downtown Daiquiri Lounge, in part citing opposition from the police department rooted in the high number of police interventions involving the applicant Marlon Hayne’s other business, Rooftop 116.
Haynes, meanwhile, appealed the decision and alleged racism played a role in the denial, pointing to the fact that the three council members who voted against the permit are white and the two in support are Black. Haynes, while being denied a permit for one nightlife business, was granted a permit for another nearby, the Ashes II Ashes cigar lounge, this year.
Tuesday’s vote to deny the permit for Plush Syndicate, whose prospective owner is also Black, also fell along racial lines.
Council members Kenneth Boudreaux and Elroy Broussard voted to grant the permit. Boudreaux said Downtown’s concerns had nothing to do with the permitting process and that the process could be changed without putting it on hold.
In the case of Plush Syndicate specifically, he noted, “We are denying someone who actually hasn’t contributed anything to the concerns that people have been expressing, because they don’t even operate yet,” Boudreaux told the council.
Borel told the council he planned to implement an ID verification system, private security staff and a mobile ordering system.
Those measures failed to sway Thomas Hooks and Andy Naquin, who both expressed reservations about granting Plush Syndicate’s permit on safety grounds. Naquin said those concerns need to be addressed before the council considers granting any additional permits.
“I think the potential costs of getting it wrong are too high right now,” Hooks said, expressing frustration over the permitting process overall.
After the vote, the administration told the council it would pause the permitting process in the Downtown area writ-large, until “we can have further conversation on how to improve the process,” Rachel Godeaux, Lafayette Consolidated Government’s chief administrative officer, said.
This adds another layer of review to an existing moratorium on new bars Downtown that triggered the conditional use permit process in the first place, requiring such permits for any business anticipating alcohol to make up the majority of its sales.
As head of the DDA, Blanchard has increasingly voiced concerns that the process had become too lax. In the case of Plush Syndicate, he noted that the nightclub’s application provided no concrete security plan or maximum capacity.
Additionally, Blanchard has asked for more public engagement on permitting applications, along with requiring the consideration of police’s findings on security measures downtown and whether they can accommodate another bar.
Borel told The Current he does not plan to challenge the council’s decision.
