Des Moines set to deny liquor license for East Village bar
Austin Cannon
Des Moines leaders in two weeks will consider a motion to deny the liquor license application for an East Village bar that was the site of two shootings in January.
However, City staff recommends denying the license for Lime Lounge, 435 E. Grand Ave., not for the gunfire, but rather for noise violations dating to 2016.
The council was originally scheduled to take up the license Monday, but Councilman Joe Gatto passed a motion to consider it in two weeks, because the bar's owners were out of the country.
The Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment revoked the conditional use permit that allowed the dance club to operate in the East Village in March 2016 because of noise violations resulting from loud music.
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The bar appealed the decision to Polk County District Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals, both of which upheld the zoning board’s decision. It appealed again to the Iowa Supreme Court, which declined to review the case.
If the city denies the liquor license, Lime Lounge owners can appeal to the state licensing board and continue to operate while the appeal is being considered.
“As long as that appeal stands, any action is stayed, so they can continue to operate until that is done,” assistant city manager Phil Delafield said.
A phone message left for the bar's owners wasn’t immediately returned Friday.
Lime Lounge was the site of gunfire twice in the same week in January.
No one was hurt Jan. 11 when two people exchanged gunshots after a confrontation. Seven days later, one man was hospitalized after being shot in the face outside the club. Police said the shooting followed a dispute inside the club.
Police arrested 28-year-old Mario Duprie Hutchinson of Des Moines in the shooting and charged him with attempted murder.
Police and city officials have pointed to the bar as an East Village trouble spot.
A police department spokesman in January said Lime Lounge generated more calls for service in 2018 than two nearby bars — Locust Tap and The Blazing Saddle — combined.