CALABASAS : Unruly Parties May Cost the Hosts

The Calabasas City Council has given tentative approval to an ordinance requiring the occupants of houses in which rowdy parties are held to pay for Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies called to restore order.

Those who do not comply with a warning from deputies to calm their parties down could be slapped with a charge of $500 to $1,000 to cover the Sheriff’s Department’s costs. The ordinance is a response to several teen-age parties that got out of hand in recent months.

“We’ve had some real bad parties,” Councilwoman Karyn Foley said as the ordinance was discussed Wednesday. “Parents go out of town and sometimes it takes three or four patrol cars to break these parties up.”

Under the ordinance, the hosts of loud or unruly parties would be warned to keep tighter control over their guests. If that fails and deputies are called in to break up the party, the host would be billed for the deputies’ time as well as any damage to public property.

“You start talking $500 and that sort of gets people’s attention,” Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Pierson said.

The Calabasas ordinance is similar to one passed by the Westlake Village City Council in 1990. Mike Mathews, assistant to the Westlake Village city manager, said several warnings have been given under the ordinance, but added that the city has not billed the host of an unruly party.