AURORA | Aurora will now require open-room and private event spaces to get liquor and dancing licenses after recent safety concerns and shifting entertainment trends.
“This will put the onus on them,” Councilmember Danielle Jurinksy, the bill sponsor, said during a study session in June. “This will put the responsibility on them. They will need a trained bartender. They will be under the same rules as bars and restaurants with checking IDs and over-serving.”
The change was approved by city lawmakers unanimously at the July 14 city council meeting.
For more than 40 years, Aurora has required cabaret licenses for liquor-licensed establishments that feature a dance floor, which include bars, breweries and hotel restaurants, said Treavor Vaughn, the city’s licensing manager, during the Monday study session.
The previous regulations didn’t require private event spaces to obtain a liquor license or maintain the same safe alcohol serving practices as other establishments, and it also didn’t allow for a standing-room-only environment like a music venue to obtain a license, which has become more of a staple in many modern concert venues, Vaughn said.
Increasingly, the venues have draws concerns about public safety, city officials say.
In 2024 alone, Aurora documented four shootings, including one homicide, at so-called event centers, many operating outside liquor licensing rules. Of the 12 event centers expected to be impacted by the ordinance, six hosted events that should have had liquor licenses but didn’t, according to the city council packet.
The problems aren’t new. In 2021, a mass shooting at Mississippi and Peoria left one dead and five injured after 100 rounds were fired during an unregulated late-night event. That center was reportedly owned by a church and rented out to a group with “questionable ties,” Vaughn said. That same year, five people were shot in a separate event on East Colfax.
Mayor Mike Coffman cited this shooting as a primary reason for working on and approving the change in the July 14 meeting.
The events are essentially underground nightclubs with no video surveillance, no crowd control, and no accountability, Vaughn said in June.
The proposed changes are two-part. First, to create a new open floor cabaret license for venues with more than 250 patrons, and second, to extend licensing requirements to private event centers that allow liquor consumption and dancing without having a liquor license.
Vaughn and Jurinsky said that a large venue in Aurora recently expressed interest in this type of setup, prompting the city to consider a new “open floor” cabaret license class.
“It’s a common type of license that a lot of jurisdictions have to address the higher intensity uses that come with late-night entertainment, particularly when they’re connected to alcohol,” Vaughn said.
Jurinsky said that as they were examining the changes, she and Vaughn decided they could address another issue they had noticed by incorporating private event spaces into the change. One of the more urgent reasons for the ordinance stems from the city’s growing frustration with private event centers, which rent out space for parties and events but aren’t required to hold a liquor license.
“A number of these have had illegal events,” Vaughn said.
The city has been seeing birthday parties that are concerts with door charges, security and no oversight, he said
The new ordinance will now permit venues with standing-room-only setups to apply for an open-floor cabaret license, and require private event spaces to do the same.
Venues would need to obtain Fire Department approval for their crowd management plans to prevent so-called “crowd crush” incidents, which occur when large, unmaintained crowds cause people to get trampled. The 250-person threshold is based on National Fire Code standards, which also trigger requirements for crowd control planning and management, Vaughn said.
Under the proposed ordinance, event centers where alcohol is consumed and dancing occurs would now be required to obtain a cabaret license, even if they don’t hold a liquor license.
The ordinance establishes a new Open-Floor Cabaret license class for businesses with a capacity of over 250 persons that intend to operate with a standing-room-only environment.
This will require a fire department-approved crowd control plan and prohibits the service of glass bottles, bottle buckets or bottle service unless patrons are provided with a table and seating, the packet said.
Vaughn said that one main reason they would prohibit glass bottles is that they can be used as projectiles.
VIP bottle service will be limited to 750ml distilled spirit bottles and restricted to parties of at least three patrons. Additionally, it requires the establishments to keep 14 days of video surveillance available to police enforcement, with one reason being that the homicide that happened last year was made more challenging for police officers because there was no surveillance, Vaughn said.
Event centers without a liquor license will now be subject to the cabaret license requirement if they permit alcohol consumption and feature a dance floor, similar to establishments with a liquor license. The license will also ensure accountability for managing noise and other negative impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. The license will also be required for establishments to either use liquor-licensed caterers or develop a liquor control plan for events serving alcohol after 10 p.m., even if those events do not otherwise require a liquor permit, according to the packet.
Essentially, it will ensure that event hosts are of “good moral character,” meaning they can pass a background check similar to that required for liquor license holders, and it will encourage the hiring of state-licensed liquor caterers to manage alcohol service.
Jurinsky said that the people who own the event centers and apply for the cabaret license will now be held to the same standards as establishments with a liquor license, which include providing proof of lease or property ownership, undergoing a background check and demonstrating good financial standing.
“It is a pretty scrutinous process to apply for a liquor license,” Jurinsky said. “One thing that this will do is this will end people renting out these event spaces, and the event center owners saying, ‘Well, here’s the keys. Have a great day,’ and they just take off.”
The city also plans to exempt municipal facilities and permitted special events that already fall under regulated liquor service, focusing enforcement on full-time, for-rent, private venues.
State legislators created a new caterer’s liquor license in 2023, but it hasn’t been funded or finalized, Vaughn said. The city expects that to be addressed in the upcoming legislative session. In the meantime, event centers will be expected to create improved alcohol service plans for late-night events.
The ordinance also requires businesses to maintain either liquor liability insurance or general liability insurance with a liquor liability endorsement.
Every comment I have written about Councilperson Jurinski has been critical, but she should be commended for this action. More control is required for these events – it’s obvious. She should also note the unanimous stance of the entire council. See, it isn’t so hard being a real councilperson! There is no need to make up conspiracy theories or to create drama!