Burnsville club is put on notice after complaints

A nightclub by any other name still can get just as rowdy, the Burnsville City Council told a local businessman this week.

Which is why, in the next six months, patrons of Alejandro Luebbert's VIP Olmeca Events convention hall and tavern must show a little less leg and a lot more respect for the surrounding residents if it is to stay in business.

The business, located in the Valley Ridge Shopping Center at 1927 W. Burnsville Pkwy., has been open for a year. But because of noise and loitering in the parking lot after hours, the council decided to grant a six-month extension, rather than a full year, to the business' permission to deviate from development plans for the area.

Council Member Mary Sherry suggested the council was misled last year when it approved a convention/banquet hall that primarily would be used for private functions such as weddings.

"As soon as you opened, you began marketing it as a nightclub on your website," Sherry said at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

"I'm hesitant to approve this based on the activity that has taken place there," Council Member Charlie Crichton said. "But I want [the business to succeed]. So I will try it one more time. But if there are any more problems, I will say no."

Luebbert said he's had some problems with the website designer and changes were made. The website promotes ladies night, salsa night and exotic Latin night at the Olmeca "nightclub."

Lisa Zarza, Olmeca's general manager, acknowledged that there have been 28 police calls to the business. None occurred on the nights of MMA events, she said.

Zarza said that there had been nine noise complaints but that police had not found any violations.

Luebbert said after the meeting that he was happy to have the City Council's support but expressed some disappointment that the council put so much weight into the complaints of two residents.

"If they don't want to live [adjacent to the hall]," he said, "they should move to Minnetonka."

Luebbert has operated a small grocery store and restaurant in the shopping center for 10 years.

Security also must clear the parking lot within 15 minutes of closing time. All events held in the parking lot must end by 10 p.m., and trash and recycling containers cannot be left unscreened.