Norfolk City Council shuts down Scotty Quixx on Granby Street
The City Council closed Scotty Quixx, a popular Granby Street nightclub, on Tuesday as the city takes steps to quell the violence downtown after several high-profile shootings.
Scotty Quixx was shuttered on a 5-2 vote, with one abstention, after city officials said they found “significant” discrepancies between the nightclub’s meals tax reporting and the amounts it reported to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority between October 2019 to September 2021.
The city’s attorneys contend the two numbers reported to the city and the authority should have been identical, but they were not. That means Scotty Quixx either withheld taxes from the city, or overreported its sales to the Virginia ABC — a violation of the nightclub’s permit, according to Assistant City Attorney Katherine Taylor, who addressed council at Tuesday’s meeting.
Taylor didn’t reveal the specific meals tax amounts that Scotty Quixx submitted during the meeting, as doing so would be a violation of state law.
Councilman Paul Riddick and Councilwoman Danica Royster voted against closing the nightclub. Councilman Martin Thomas abstained from voting, but did not say why.
The ordinance adopted revokes Scotty Quixx’s special exception permit that allows it to sell alcohol on site, stay open until 2 a.m. and host live music.
Revoking the permit automatically shutters the establishment, immediately closing it, according to city officials.
If owners Al Ragas and Chris Johnson want to reopen Scotty Quixx, they need to obtain a new zoning certificate to operate as a restaurant, but will be barred from selling alcohol. If they decide to try to reopen as a nightclub, they will need to apply for a conditional use permit, a time-consuming and potentially expensive process that needs City Council approval.
Scotty Quixx’s owners and attorneys were allowed 20 minutes to speak prior to the council’s vote. The owners didn’t address the council but their attorneys, Richard Ottinger and Kevin Martingayle, argued the city didn’t present its findings to the restaurant before moving to close it down. They also said the nightclub had no meals tax, ABC or fire code violations for at least a decade.
“There is no proof,” Martingayle said. “There’s nothing there.”
Scotty Quixx was the scene of a late-night shooting more than three years ago, but has avoided the recent violence that has plagued downtown Norfolk and some of its businesses.
Ottinger told council the nightclub has taken steps since then to increase its safety protocols, voluntarily reducing its capacity from 260 to 200, doubling the number of required security guards on site and setting last call and closing times earlier than 2 a.m.
The city also, Ottinger asserted, did not provide any evidence that Scotty Quixx was connected with the recent uptick in violent crime downtown.
“The problem facing City Council is crime in the Granby Street corridor,” Ottinger said. “What is City Council’s proposed solution tonight? To revoke the conditional use permit for Scotty Quixx with not even the suggestion of a cause and effect between how Scotty Quixx is being operated and the crime problem on Granby Street.”
Scotty Quixx is the third nightclub in downtown Norfolk to be closed by the city in September amid a widening crackdown following several shootings in the downtown area.
City Manager Chip Filer announced Aug. 5, following a shooting outside Legacy Restaurant and Lounge, the city would take a more forceful approach to reining in rising crime in the downtown area.
The City Council revoked Legacy’s conditional use permit Sept. 13.
The city also closed Culture Lounge & Restaurant on Sept. 2 for violating its zoning permit. Culture had its conditional use permit revoked in 2021 after several violent incidents were reported outside the club, but remained open with reduced hours for nearly a year.
Chicho’s Backstage on Granby Street, where a shooting occurred in March that left one person injured and three dead, including a Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reporter, has not had its conditional use permit revoked by the city.
The City Council will decide whether to shutter another nightclub, California Burrito on Granby Street, on Oct. 11.
Daniel Berti, daniel.berti@virginiamedia.com
