{"id":36942,"date":"2026-09-29T19:47:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/36942\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:47:25","slug":"hampton-officials-recommend-revoking-restaurants-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/36942\/","title":{"rendered":"Hampton officials recommend revoking restaurant’s permit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hampton Planning Commission unanimously recommended the revocation of a use permit for Chances Restaurant and Lounge after four security incidents this year forced police to increase their presence near the business.<\/p>\n

Chances will preserve its use permit until its revocation is approved by City Council, scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Chances applied for a use permit in 2023 to allow for live entertainment and alcohol sales, which was approved in March 2024. The business opened last October along Settlers Landing Road, and operates until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and midnight the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

City code requires any such permitholders to provide security \u201csufficient to monitor and control patron behavior\u201d inside and outside the business, and requires staff to report any criminal activity to Hampton police and cooperate with their investigations. Permits may be revoked for failing to supply adequate security or failing to report incidents or comply with police.<\/p>\n

Although security personnel is posted outside the business, Hampton police officer Tyler Zminkowski told the Hampton Planning Commission during its Thursday meeting the business\u2019 security is not doing enough to prevent city police from regularly responding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is commonplace at Chances to have people outside the business who are armed, who are loitering and mingling outside the business. Where Chances has said on multiple occasions they have no control over,\u201d Zminkowski said. \u201cBut these are their patrons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zminkowski played video from Sept. 20 that captured gunfire outside the restaurant. Around 1:30 a.m., two people standing outside Chances shoot guns into the air. The video showed patrons mingling outside seek cover, but security staff blocked the door to prevent people from getting inside. At one point, a security member pointed a gun at people on the ground. According to Zminkowski, police later learned one of the shooters was a patron at the lounge, and the other shooter currently has a warrant for their arrest.<\/p>\n

That was one of four incidents Zminkwoski highlighted to the commission. The three others were an April incident where patrons fought outside the bar and one fired a gun into the air, a May incident where a person left Chances and retrieved a rifle and held it in plain view outside the restaurant while looking at the door, and a May 5 homicide where a person was shot outside the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Zminkowski said Hampton police have responded to 25 calls for service this year \u2014 including three fights \u2014 at the restaurant, which exclude other businesses that share the address.<\/p>\n

He added police have significantly increased their patrols in the area near Chances, as well as added a real-time camera and light tower outside the business. Zminkowski said the bar is using up police resources for crowd control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response, HPD is taking extraordinary efforts to make sure that we are out there and we are showing a presence,\u201d Zminkowski said. \u201cBut again, that pulls from our manpower that we already have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chances already lost its liquor license \u2014 twice, according to according to the city\u2019s interim Deputy of Community Development Steven Lynch.<\/p>\n

He said ABC suspended Chances\u2019 liquor license after the May homicide due to failure to take reasonable measures to prevent violence. The license was reinstated two weeks later. But ABC revoked the license on Oct. 1 for further security incidents.
\n\"AA notice from the city of Hampton hangs on the front entrance to Chances Restaurant and Lounge in downtown on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (Kendall Warner \/ The Virginian-Pilot)<\/p>\n

Chances responded to the revocation recommendation Friday on Instagram, calling the decision \u201cheartbreaking\u201d for a business that tries to create a safe and welcoming community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we can\u2019t control what happens once people leave, know that these actions still reflect back on us,\u201d the post read. \u201cWhat hurts the most is the impact this has on our employees and their families, who depend on Chances for their livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant owners were not present at the commission meeting and did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Howard Smith, who owns the property, told the commission the revocation is regrettable, but he was already in the process of terminating the restaurant\u2019s lease due to the safety incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just was not working,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Commission Chair\u00a0Michael Harris called the revocation unfortunate, but necessary for Hampton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want you to bring your business here,\u201d Harris said. \u201cAt the same time, we want to let you know we want to keep a safe city. It affects our reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hampton Planning Commission unanimously recommended the revocation of a use permit for Chances Restaurant and Lounge after four security incidents this year forced police to increase their presence near the business. Chances will preserve its use permit until its revocation is approved by City Council, scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday. Chances applied<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[93,7842,1100,4034,241,554,192,434,3175,3173,3171,3174,3172],"class_list":["post-36942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-virginia","tag-business","tag-city-politics","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-hampton","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-virginia","tag-virginia-dining","tag-virginia-food","tag-virginia-grocery-stores","tag-virginia-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117356058788835054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}