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Pub gets OK for four nights of entertainment
Council approval comes 4 months after Redcoats owner's request

by Jeb Bing

Mari Kennard finally won the approval of the Pleasanton City Council Tuesday to add Wednesday and Thursday nights to nighttime entertainment being offered at her Redcoats British Pub in downtown Pleasanton.

She had asked for the required conditional use permit last September in hope of offering four nights of music and dancing at her popular St. Mary Street restaurant during the Thanksgiving to New Year's Day holiday period.

But a nearby resident's complaint and Councilman Jerry Thorne's concern over neighborhood noise delayed final action on the request until this week.

Redcoats already offers music and dancing starting at 9:45 p.m. and ending at 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays with a conditional use permit required in Pleasanton for nighttime entertainment. Her request in September, which was unanimously approved by the city Planning Commission on Nov. 18, asked that the permit be modified to add music and dancing from 9 p.m. to midnight on Wednesdays and Thursdays to meet her customers' request for more nights of downtown entertainment.

With its approval, the Planning Commission stipulated that Redcoats post signs directing cigarette smokers to an outside designated patio so that they would not congregate in the front of the pub on St. Mary Street.

Gene Finch, who with his wife Genie own and live in a second floor apartment just 30 feet away from Redcoats, told city planners that while they didn't oppose Kennard's request for more nighttime entertainment days and hours, they're concerned about litter, loitering, smoking and other activities by the pub's patrons near their front door. Finch suggested that the nighttime entertainment also be subject to noise monitoring.

Thorne agreed and appealed the Planning Commission's decision, moving Kennard's request to the City Council for another round of public hearings and discussion. Thorne asked that a noise monitoring system be installed as part of the council's approval, devices, he said, could be purchased for less than $100.

Tuesday, he withdrew the demand after city staff and the Pleasanton Downtown Association said they would include noise level considerations later this year when they consider a broader plan that would set standards for all downtown establishments. The current 60 decibel level maximum that governs all Pleasanton outdoor activities also will be studied to see if it's too limiting.

Left in the new "good neighbor policy" that the council added to its approval Tuesday is a requirement that Redcoats' staff perform inspections with flashlights after closing the pub reach night on both sides of St. Mary Street to clean up litter, beverage containers and cigarette butts.