LA HABRA : Decision Postponed on Nightclub Permit

City Council members have postponed a decision on whether to revoke El Azteca Nightclub and Restaurant’s entertainment permit so that they can see what the Planning Commission does tonight with the permit to operate the controversial nightclub.

Meanwhile, Azteca’s owner, Jorge Rocha, said he has closed his business because restrictions that the City Council placed on him last month have made it impossible to make a profit.

Rocha was ordered to cut off live music at midnight, hire two security guards to patrol the parking lot and stop all amplified music. He said he tried to operate his business under those conditions and lost more than 50% of his clientele.

City officials cited 16 complaints of loud music made by neighbors of the nightclub in May and June.

Rocha said, however, that he has installed sound walls around the nightclub to reduce the noise and hired an acoustics expert, who told council members that the noise would be “quieter than a cricket.”

But council members said the sound walls were installed without building permits or inspections by city code enforcement. Last week, they unanimously voted to postpone a decision about the club’s entertainment permit until after the Planning Commission takes action.

Rocha submitted a petition signed by more than 300 Azteca patrons and neighbors who support the nightclub. He also opened a hot line for people to call if the music bothers them.

No one spoke in opposition to the nightclub’s entertainment permit at either of the two public hearings on the matter, but one resident who lives in an apartment building across the street wrote a letter complaining about the noise.