New Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance

Printed: 3/28/2024 7:56:31 AM

18.12 AC-4 Arts and Culture Diversity Overlay District

18.12.A Applicability   

The AC-4 Overlay District is intended to create an environment with additional opportunities for live entertainment at commercially-zoned sites along commercial corridors, as well as at small sites with commercial zoning that are interspersed within neighborhoods where arts and cultural uses have historically existed. The AC-4 Overlay District applies to the following area:

1.  All lots in non-residential districts bounded by Orleans Avenue/Basin Street, North Villere Street, St. Philip Street, North Rampart Street, St. Bernard Avenue (excluding properties that have frontage on St. Bernard Avenue), and both sides of North Claiborne Avenue.

18.12.B Uses   

18.12.B.1 Conditional Uses   

In addition to all uses authorized in the base district, the following uses are allowed as conditional uses subject to the use standards of Article 20 and Paragraph C below.

a.  Live Entertainment – Secondary Use

18.12.C Use Standards   

18.12.C.1 Live Entertainment – Secondary Use   

a.  All establishments providing live entertainment shall hold the appropriate Live Entertainment Permit.

b.  All establishments providing live entertainment are subject to a closed doors and windows policy during any performance.

c.  All establishments providing live entertainment are subject to the applicable noise, litter, and other laws of the City, including the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, Building Code, City Code, and Life Safety Code.

d.  A bar may provide live entertainment, including a permanent area for dancing, but adult uses and karaoke are prohibited. All bars providing live entertainment shall hold a Class A General ABO Permit and the appropriate Live Entertainment Permit.

e.  Live entertainment performances are restricted to the hours between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Midnight on all days, provided that additional hours of operation may be considered and granted through the conditional use process.

18.12.C.2 Restaurant   

a. Musical accompaniment for patrons at a restaurant (standard or specialty), in conformance with the following use standards:

1. During the performance of any musical accompaniment, all doors and windows in the restaurant shall remain closed.  Any amplification used in support of a musical accompaniment shall be directed towards the patrons of the restaurant, and not toward any door, window or outdoor space.

2. No cover charge shall be charged for any performance of any musical accompaniment.

3. Full restaurant service shall continue during the performance of any musical accompaniment.

4. No more than ten percent (10%) of a restaurant’s seating area may be dedicated to a staging area for any performance of musical accompaniment.

5. Aside from the portion of the restaurant seating area dedicated to the staging of the musical accompaniment, no restaurant seating may be removed or relocated during the performance in order to accommodate an audience and/or dance area.

6. Performance of the musical accompaniment shall not be permitted beyond 10:00 p.m. on Sundays through Wednesdays, or beyond midnight on Thursdays through Saturdays.

7. Musical accompaniment shall only be performed in the interior of a restaurant; outdoor musical accompaniment shall be subject to the general Live Entertainment – Secondary Use regulations, as applicable.

Any musical accompaniment for patrons at a restaurant that is not in conformance with the above standards shall be subject to general Live Entertainment – Secondary Use regulations, as applicable.

b. A Special Event Permit may temporarily relieve a restaurant from standards of this section. Special Event Permits are limited to no more than ten (10) times a year for a total of thirty (30) days per year. Performances permitted by a Special Event Permit shall be a minimum of fourteen (14) days apart.