Daly City council introduces ordinance to allow state-authorized "entertainment zones" for monitored outdoor alcohol at events

Daly City's City Council on Feb. 9 conducted a public hearing and moved to introduce a local ordinance that would create a framework for “entertainment zones” under state law SB 969, allowing limited, temporary outdoor alcohol consumption inside defined event boundaries.

City special projects manager Maybelle Mano told the council the ordinance is intended "about legal compliance, public safety and economic competitiveness, not expanding alcohol access broadly." She said zones would require defined geographic boundaries, limited days and hours, approved container types, strict age-verification protocols, police coordination and event-specific zone management plans. Zones would be suspendable or revocable if problems arise, and the ordinance requires a biennial review to evaluate impacts.

Police Chief Cameron Christiansen confirmed department involvement: "the police department will be involved," and described a multi-department review of permit requests that would examine engineering, fire and public-safety issues before the chief signs off on event permits.

Council members pressed staff on implementation details. Doctor Rod asked whether the city will use the model only for time-limited festivals or for recurring events; Mano said producers would designate boundaries and toggle whether alcohol is present in an online special-event permit. Dr. Rod also asked about young people in crowds; staff said wristbands or similar age-verification measures would be required and vendors would need the appropriate state catering license before serving.

Councilmember Manalo traced the policy's origin to local practice and state action, noting that San Francisco and other nearby cities had already developed similar approaches and that state Senator Scott Wiener authored SB 969. Council members also requested performance metrics for the ordinance's required two-year review, including whether applicants used the program, incident counts, response times and how well management plans matched actual operations.

Mayor Lehi Sylvester and others noted crowd-safety, waste-management and neighborhood-disruption as issues staff must monitor. With no public cards submitted for this item, council closed the hearing and voted to have the city attorney read the ordinance by title. Councilmember Manalo then introduced the ordinance for council consideration; the city attorney read the title adding Chapter 5.96 to the Daly City Municipal Code to establish the entertainment zone program pursuant to specified Business and Professions Code sections as amended by SB 969.

Next steps: council introduced the ordinance and referred it to subsequent steps required by the municipal code (reading by title, potential future votes to adopt). Staff said they will continue interdepartmental review and will include enforcement and evaluation metrics as part of future permit approvals.