Planning Commission Denies the Cafe's Attempts to Expand Club

By Sarah Doss

On June 21, the owner of the Café nightclub on Market and 17th streets was denied his
request to be granted a conditional use permit by the SF Planning Commission to build an extension to the business.

Tom Hutachinda, the owner of the Café, and several opponents who had gathered signatures to form a petition against the expansion appeared at the Planning Commission hearing. Ultimately, the commission ruled that the Café had not met 10 of its original conditional uses, thus prohibiting Hutachinda from obtaining a city permit.

“His plans were to construct a four-story addition on the 17th Street frontage at the rear of the building,” said Rick Crawford, staff planner at the City’s Planning Department assigned to the Café.

The expansion would include an entrance built under the auspices of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), more bathrooms, an extra pool room and an exit on 17th Street behind the club.

Neither Hutachinda nor anyone involved in the management of the Café responded to several attempts for comment.

The Café had allegedly not been abiding by conditions of approval that address noise and nuisance reduction. In addition, the Café regularly violated a condition that states the hours of operation as limited to Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons.

The Café has been open since 1992, offering drinks and dancing in the Castro. It is open until 2 a.m., seven days a week with packed events like “Pan Dulce” and “Boy Bar,” and it lies less than a block away from quiet residential streets.

“We are not opposed in general to the operation of the Café nor to its expansion,” said Judith Hoyem, a member of the Eureka Valley Promotion Association (EVPA), “but we want it to operate as a good neighbor with no disturbance to the adjacent neighborhood.”

About two and a half years ago, the Café started a weekly event on Mondays called Hip-Hop Night. The event was bringing in more patrons than any other night of the week.

“I’m being woken up at two in the morning,” said Hartford Street resident Alan Beach. “I had to start taking sleeping pills every Monday night. I complained 24 times to the Entertainment Commissioner.”

In response to neighborhood complaints, the Café hired private security in October to keep the area under control.

“The noise went away, but then it came back,” Beach said.

Many neighbors felt that the private security was not taking the adequate measures to stem late night disturbances.

The biggest construction issue to the neighbors is the potential ADA entrance on 17th street.
“It’s just a ruse,” Beach said.

EVPA and concerned neighbors believe the new entrance will just invite patrons closer to the houses on Hartford Street, causing more disturbances at night.

Prior to the Planning Commission hearing, Hutachinda was ordered to attend a community meeting to hear straight from the people most concerned. He sent out a notice for the meeting only 24 hours ahead, causing a low turnout from the neighbors.

While the Café agreed to most of the specifications that EVPA wished for, they were not willing to move the ADA entrance from 17th Street to Market Street.

“Since the Planning Commission has made its final arrangements, EVPA wants to continue working with the Café and assist them in their stated intention to be a good neighbor,” Hoyem said.

Future plans of the bar are unknown at this time. However, since the Planning Commission hearing, Hip-Hop night has been discontinued.

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