The stage for the Lucca Beer Garden, which opened in June. (Photo by Nick Sestanovich)

Lucca Beer Garden wants to add a little more music in Benicia’s summer. The restaurant has filed a petition with the Benicia City Council to try a temporary relief of the noise regulations for their establishment. This debate will be discussed at tonight’s regular council meeting.
Current rules in downtown Benicia allow for amplified sound until 8 p.m. with no amplified sound on Sundays and holidays. Lucca Beer Garden, after their first year of operating, have been trying to get the City Council to relax the noise ordinance laws. Owner Jan Lucca sent the City Council a petition to try a temporary relief of the noise regulations for his restaurant on June 1.
If Lucca Beer Garden’s petition were to be approved by the council, it would require a new set of temporary rules for the restaurant. These new rules would be that Lucca Beer Garden could play music on Thursdays until 9 p.m, Friday and Saturday evenings until10 p.m, Sundays from 2 to 6 p.m. – for non-amplified music, and Mondays and holidays until 9 p.m. from July 1 to July 30, 2017. Lucca Beer Garden would still have to comply with the required sound levels.
Not all Benicia citizens are supportive of the proposed changes to the noise ordinance. In a letter sent to the City Council, Sandra Shannonhouse expressed her views on the changes.
“I am NOT opposed to music downtown,” she wrote. “I am after all immediately adjacent to one music venue and have no problem with their music. I have no problem with most of the outdoor music that occurs with various festivals (it is sporadic) and during the Farmers Market. I am completely opposed to any highly amplified music that home, makes it impossible for me to work in my studio or office, make it impossible to closed, as happened on the afternoon of March 22.”
Shannonhouse wants Lucca Beer Garden staff to demonstrate they can play highly amplified music that would not bother the neighborhood before they are allowed any changes to the noise ordinance.
In an email sent to city officials, Penny Moraga also voiced her opposition to the noise ordinance changes as they are currently proposed.
“I would like to express that while we were not able to attend, we are downtown residents and we are not supportive of a change in the noise ordinance to extend the hours past 9 p.m. during the week and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday,” Moraga wrote. “Sundays should be a reasonable 8 p.m. We have to sleep and work in this town as well.”
The City Council will decide the fate of the Lucca Beer Garden’s petition tonight. Councilmember Alan Schwartzman has abstained to vote on this issue as he feels it would be a conflict of interest as he is part of a business located within 500 feet of Lucca Beer Garden.
Also on the City Council’s agenda, councilmembers will be voting to approve a two-year agreement between the city and the Benicia Police Officers Association and recommend the allocation of funds for Measure C projects for the next two years.
The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight in a closed session to discuss legal matters. The regular meeting will start at 7 in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.

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