SHERMAN OAKS : Hearing Scheduled on Fate of Coffeehouse

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office will decide whether to file criminal charges against an embattled Sherman Oaks coffeehouse after a public hearing on the establishment set for next week, an official said Monday.

Though complaints about the Insomnia Cafe’s allegedly unruly late-night patrons have been the subject of at least two public hearings since the cafe opened last year, the city attorney would take action on the cafe’s failure to meet specifications of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, which governs development along the 17-mile stretch.

“The matter is still under review,” said Richard Schmidt, acting supervising attorney at the Van Nuys branch office. “But after the 22nd, we are going to have a clear idea of whether we are going to file charges.”

Schmidt said the cafe is operating without a certificate of occupancy and has failed to provide adequate parking as called for under the plan.

He said the maximum penalty for operating without a permit is six months in jail or a $1,000 fine. He added that conditions of probation could be imposed that could force the closure of the cafe.

In April, a city zoning administrator deemed the coffeehouse at 13718 Ventura Blvd. a public nuisance, and imposed a set of 12 conditions, including curtailed evening hours, on its operation. Cafe co-owner John Dunn, who will appeal the ruling next Tuesday before the city Board of Zoning Appeals, said he is also prepared to make some concessions.

Dunn said he will go to the hearing with a plan to provide nearly 30 additional parking spaces after 8 p.m., and will consider the possibility of “some kind of shortened evening hours.”

“We hope this thing will work with the city and the neighbors,” Dunn said. “We don’t want to fight this thing anymore. It could go on forever.”