The Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday that would crack down on unlicensed, for-profit house parties.
Bill 13-25, which was sponsored by council members Dawn Luedtke and Andrew Friedson, will strengthen the licensing requirements, increase the penalties and close some loopholes for what they’re calling “commercial house parties” in residential neighborhoods.
In a statement, Luedtke called the frequent events “disruptive” and a “jeopardy of safety.”
During the council’s session Tuesday morning, council member Natalie Fani-González, who chairs the Economic Development Committee, said the legislation would only crack down on unlicensed parties that pose issues to safety, noise or zoning codes.
“This is not targeting quinceañeras, sweet 16s, personal weddings. We’re not talking about that,” she said.
Luedtke and Friedson said commercial house parties in residential neighborhoods have grown due to “social media promotions and online ticket sales.” They can lead to parking and traffic congestion, noise disturbances and public safety concerns that put a burden on local law enforcement.
“It’s not that we didn’t have some tools available, they just weren’t functioning quite right in terms of both deterrence and enforcement,” Luedtke said. “The goal is deterrence. The goal is that the party not happen in the first place.”
The penalty fine for illegal parties increases from $25 to $5,000 and imposes a maximum $15,000 fine for additional violations.
“These are promoted business enterprises, and the challenge is the punishment didn’t fit the crime. It became the cost of doing business. The fines were so low that they really didn’t register at all,” Friedson said.
Certain tax-exempt organizations are not subject to the increased penalties for benefit concerts and other permitted events.
Last year, a house near Stapleford Hall Drive in Potomac, Maryland, became the site of a raucous pool party, called the “WetDreams Mansion Pool Party,” and tickets were sold on social media for the event. The party caused numerous concerns from neighbors.
At the time, community members said they called police and fire crews about their neighborhood being packed full of cars and seeing illegal fireworks at the party. A neighbor told WTOP that only one police officer came to the scene but did not approach the house; the party was ultimately not shut down.
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