Dance fines could shut down Pinal restaurant

A Pinal County Board of Supervisors decision to enforce fines against San Tan Flat restaurant threatens to shut down the business before owner Dale Bell can exhaust appeals on a ruling that he’s running a dance hall, his attorney claims.

Attorney Jennifer Perkins with the Institute for Justice requested on Wednesday that the board abandon the $700-a-day fine until Bell’s ability to appeal is exhausted. She said the fines could amount to more than $200,000 a year.

“Litigation is always a lengthy process and if Dale faces the threat of or actual daily fines it could end his business before his right to appeal is vindicated,” she said.

The supervisors on Wednesday recognized that Bell is within a 60-day period during which he will not be fined if he comes into compliance. County officials said compliance includes getting a special-use permit for dancing and doing more to mitigate noise.

Noise is not a part of the charge against Bell, and San Tan Flat has never violated the county’s noise ordinance.

Perkins said the restaurant will appeal the board’s ruling that upheld a hearing officer’s finding that Bell is illegally running a dance hall at his open-air steakhouse on Hunt Highway, south of Queen Creek. The appeal would need to be filed with the Pinal County Superior Court.

“It is telling that the board continues to suggest that Dale must take steps to come into compliance, and those steps are not clearly related to halting the dancing at San Tan Flat,” Perkins said. “Pinal County zoning ordinances do not prohibit live, outdoor, amplified music. They do not prohibit restaurants. They do not prohibit outdoor restaurants. So the only activity occurring at San Tan Flat at issue here is the dancing, yet the board has essentially ignored that.”

A motion filed by Seymour Gruber, wwho is representing the county, suggests that Bell could request a stay of fines with the court rather than the board.