Mayor Nancy Vaughan is holding a town hall meeting on a new proposed nightclub ordinance on Monday, July 26 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Barber Park Event Center.

What was called the nightclub ordinance is now being called “The Greensboro Safety Plan,” but whatever the name, it is a proposal to restrict private, for-profit businesses that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption and have violent incidents inside or in the area under the control of that business.

According to the press release, at the town hall, “City staff will present a working proposal for the next phase of the Safety Plan.”

The public is invited, although the press release states, “Unvaccinated attendees are required to wear a mask.”

The Greensboro City Council began the year with a discussion of a nightclub ordinance on Jan. 5, which was strange since at the time, because of COVID-19 restrictions, bars could only serve customers outdoors and nightclubs were restricted to 25 people indoors, which resulted in most being closed.

In December 2014, in a response to a shooting outside a nightclub, the City Council passed a nightclub ordinance requiring bars and nightclubs to have enhanced security.  However, after the complaints about the ordinance came flooding in, the City Council voted to impose a moratorium on enforcing the ordinance.

In April of this year, after four people were stabbed outside a downtown bar and restaurant, Vaughan in a Facebook post announced she was moving forward with an effort to develop and pass an ordinance “to hold bad actors accountable for violent acts on, or directly related, to their premises.”

The current draft of the plan calls for the city to appoint a four-member Safety Review Board made up of one member of the Greensboro Police Department Command Staff, a member of the Greensboro Fire Department Fire Marshal’s Office, a member of the Department of Neighborhood Development and a member of the Department of Building and Inspection.

After a violent act at a privately owned, for-profit business that serves alcohol for on-premises consumption, or allows on-premises consumption, the Safety Review Board would meet and make a recommendation for action that might include hiring more security guards, installing metal detectors or maintaining a list of everyone who enters the premises.

Failure to comply with the recommendation of the Safety Review Board could result in the business being declared a public nuisance under the existing laws.