San Diego Municipal Code Div. 16 Commercial Amusement Establishments

and Assemblages and Devices (“Amusement Establishments and Devices” retitled 2–23–1987 by O–16812 N.S.)

Assemblages — Regulated

(a) Purpose and Intent — The Council of the City of San Diego finds that
commercial amusement establishments present an environment with the
demonstrated potential for excessive noise generation and disorderly conduct
by patrons, particularly at closing times, with an attendant adverse public
safety impact on the surrounding business and residential community.
Therefore, it is the purpose and intent of this Division to regulate commercial
amusement establishments not otherwise specifically regulated in this Article
as police regulated businesses, and to require the operators as a condition of
the issuance of a permit to be responsible for patron conduct upon and in the
vicinity of the establishment and to make adequate provisions for security,
crowd control and patron conduct so as to curb and minimize disturbances as
a result of the operation of the premises.

(b) Definitions - The term “commercial amusement establishment” shall refer to
any business establishment to which the general public is invited to participate
in games of skill or chance, and which charges an admission fee or playing
charge. Such establishments include, but are not limited to the following
illustrative types of amusement businesses: arcades, bowling alleys, pool
rooms, billiard parlors, shooting galleries, skating rinks, and the like.

(c) Regulation - It shall be unlawful to operate a commercial amusement
establishment without a police permit. Such permit issued pursuant to this
Division shall be issued pursuant to the conditions specified herein, whether
of general application, or of specific application to a particular type of
amusement.

(d) The issuance of a police permit to operate a commercial amusement
establishment shall authorize the conduct of any amusement business or
combination thereof specifically regulated under this Division, with the
proviso that the operator or other responsible person, as defined in this
Article,

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shall comply with all requirements applicable to each category of regulated amusement located at the premises and the requirements of Section 33.1670. (Amended 11–20–2000 by O–18887 N.S.)

It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct, operate or maintain any circus, carnival, rodeo or similar entertainment or exhibition at any single location or address in the City of San Diego without a permit, and for any period of time or periods of time in excess of a total of fifteen (15) days within any six (6) months period of time. (Amended 2–23–1987 by O–16812 N.S.)

No person shall conduct or operate any arcade within the City of San Diego, without a police permit. As used herein, an “Arcade” is any establishment (other than a pool hall or billiard hall defined in Section 33.1610) open to the public with six or more games of skill or amusement defined in Section 33.1641 installed on the premises. An arcade includes any lawful business establishment not otherwise police regulated that installs six or more games of skill or amusement. (Retitled to “Arcade License Approval Required By Chief of Police” and amended 2– 23–1987 by O–16812 N.S.)

No person shall conduct or carry on any theater, show or revue, or any other commercial recreational assemblage within the City of San Diego without a license approved by the Chief of Police. (Retitled to “Theaters, Revues— and Other Commercial Recreational Assemblages” and amended 2–23–1987 by O–16812 N.S.)

After the effective date of this Code, no license shall be issued to any person to operate any such commercial amusement within three hundred (300) feet of any school. (Incorp. 1–22–1952 by O–5046 N.S., contained in O–3179 N.S. adopted 5–14–1946.)

It is unlawful for any responsible person in any commercial amusement establishment licensed herein, to operate any gambling game or to permit any lewd conduct or obscene material in or about or in connection with the general operation of such premises, or to permit the sale or consumption of any alcoholic beverage on premises not specifically licensed for such sale or consumption or to harbor, admit or

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receive or to permit to be or remain in or about such place any lewd person of either sex, any intoxicated or disorderly person or any person under the influence of intoxicating liquors, or any person whose conduct while present in said premises creates a violation of any of the provisions of the Code of this City or the State of California, or which in any way materially interferes with the proper management or control of such commercial premises. This subsection is an administrative licensing regulation only and not subject to criminal penalty. (Amended 11–20–2000 by O–18887 N.S.)

The term “game of skill or amusement” for the purpose of this Article is hereby defined to mean and include any mechanical, electrical, electronic, or video machine, device or apparatus, or combination thereof, the operation or use of which is permitted, controlled, allowed or made possible by the deposit or placing of any coin, plate, disk, slug or key into any slot, crevice or other opening or by the payment of any fee or fees, for the use as a game, contest or amusement of any description, or which may be used for any such game, contest or amusement, and the use or possession of which is not prohibited by any law of the State of California. This definition shall include video games which generate or display a computer or electronically created image on a screen, but shall exclude “peep show devices” as defined in Section 33.3302.

The phrase “any place in the City of San Diego open to the public” shall include clubs, headquarters and meeting places of fraternal or other societies, associations and bodies.

The Chief of Police may inspect such games of skill or amusement or their plans to ensure that such games are not in violation of any other provision of law. (Amended 7–23–1990 by O–17498 N.S.)

No license issued under the terms of this Division shall be transferable from one person to another.

Each amusement device operated in any such amusement establishment shall be registered with the Police Department; and no amusement device operated in such commercial amusement establishment shall be charged, nor shall the place of operation of any such amusement device be changed without first registering the same with the Chief of Police and receiving his approval therefor. (Incorp. 1–22–1952 by O–5046 N.S., contained in O–3179 N.S. adopted 5–14–1946.)

It shall be the duty of the Chief of the Police Department to make or cause to be made regular inspections of any amusement arcade; amusement park; billiard or pool hall; bowling alleys; burlesque theater; girl show or revue; motion picture theater, except those theaters exhibiting films which bear the seal of approval of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association and the authorized serial registration number of the National Board of Review; on–sale liquor establishment; penny arcades; picture arcade or gallery; skating rink; or any other commercial place of amusement or commercial place of recreational assemblage within the City of San Diego and shall have free access at all times to any establishments as provided for herein, and he is authorized to seize any motion picture or film, poster or exhibit, the exhibition and display of which is by this Chapter prohibited, in the possession or under the control of the person arrested, and deliver the same to the magistrate before whom the person arrested is required to be taken. (Amended 11–5–1964 by O–9114 N.S.)

(a) As a condition of the issuance of a police permit to operate a commercial amusement establishment, the owner or operator or other responsible person shall: 1) Observe all laws applicable to noise abatement, particularly those contained in Chapter 5 of this Code; 2) Control the conduct of patrons so as to prevent or minimize the incidence of disorderly or unlawful conduct by such patrons upon the premises or immediately adjacent thereto and within a distance of 100 feet measured in a straight line from the nearest edge of the building or property line of the licensed premises; 3) Cause the orderly dispersal of persons from the vicinity of the regulated premises at closing time and not allow them to congregate in a disorderly fashion. The repeated failure

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of the management of the regulated premises to take reasonable steps to
control patron conduct or to take adequate precautions to curb such disorders
or conduct during the hours of operation of the premises or at closing time
after written notice of such violation has been provided to management shall
be grounds for the suspension or revocation of the permit issued under this
Division. It shall be competent to show that three or more written notices were
sent to the management within a one-year period outlining the nature of the
violations and those acts or omissions on the part of management which
contributed to the patron misconduct, or which represented the failure of
management to take reasonable steps to prevent or minimize such
disturbances.

(b) The Chief of Police shall be further authorized to require the employment of a
sufficient number of security personnel to provide crowd control during the
event and dispersal at the conclusion thereof, based on the nature of the event,
the number in attendance, the ages of the patrons, the potential for disorderly
conduct, the nature of the surrounding neighborhood and the likelihood of
interference from other sources or businesses in the area, and such other
factors as the Chief of Police may determine to be particularly applicable to
the regulated event or premise.

(c) The Chief of Police is hereby authorized to cause a regulated commercial
amusement establishment to close down operations and disperse all patrons
for the remainder of the daily operation whenever disorderly patron conduct
shall reach a magnitude as to present a clear threat to the public safety and
well-being of the patrons and general public in the vicinity.

(d) This section is regulatory only.
(Amended 11-20-2000 by O-18887 N.S.)

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Article 3: Police Regulated Occupations and Businesses