Youth and Family Master Plan board to ask Pomona council for social host ordinance

POMONA - Take a large party drawing young people from hither and yon, mix in underage drinking and unruly behavior and the formula can lead to tragic events.

For this reason members of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board recently voted to send a letter to Pomona City Council members asking they consider drafting and adopting a social host ordinance.

More than 20 cities in the state have adopted such ordinances, said Rev. Rick DeBruyne, pastor or Lincoln Avenue Community Church and a member of the community board.

Such an ordinance wouldn't affect family gathering or children's parties, he said.

What such local laws do is provide a way to deal with properties that are regularly the site of large scale parties that are a nuisance, DeBruyne said.

"It's really just an attempt to give the police department another tool so where there is a party with underage drinking or is getting out of hand to confront it," DeBruyne said.

The focus of such ordinances are property owners or the renters of the property where the parties take place, he said.

People who fail to control activities on their property can then be subject to civil penalties, he said.

Youth and Family Services Manager Andrea Rico said she will be drafting a letter which will be presented to the community board for review and approval.

Once approved it will the be forwarded to the City Council, mayor and city manager along with a staff report explaining the social host ordinance concept.

When the matter would go to the council has not yet been determined, she said.