ALBANY — The city has ordered the Washington Avenue Armory to stop hosting alcohol-soaked dance parties like the one that preceded a Thursday night melee in which three police officers were injured and seven people were arrested.

That incident — which according to police involved a crowd of as many as 2,000 would-be party-goers jostling to get inside the "foam party" — spurred the landmark facility's management to announce changes to its ticketing and entry policies this weekend.

But even before that, code enforcement officials had ordered a freeze on further parties, citing alleged violations of the city's zoning code a new law requiring most live entertainment — including nightclubs — to be licensed.

Armory spokesman Michael Cort acknowledged the order but said it's not clear yet how it may affect events already on the calendar, including a Halloween-themed "Masquerave" dance party scheduled for Friday night.

Another event dubbed "The Wet and Reckless Tour" — the flier for which features a cartoon blood-alcohol detector with the needle spiked all the way to the maximum — is scheduled to visit the Armory Nov. 8. That party is listed as open to anyone 16 or older.

"We're trying to get a better idea of what exactly that does mean for us," Corts said, adding that venue and city officials are scheduled to meet this week to clarify. "The Armory has been hosting all types of events for decades."

The order, which is dated Friday, directs the management of the landmark venue to "cease and desist" from hosting "non-sporting events" and pay a $300 fine. It also directs management to file for the proper permits within five days or face being taken to court.

Jeffery Jamison, director of the city's Division of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance, said the Board of Zoning Appeals never approved the venue's use as night club.

A 2007 special-use permit issued by the BZA lists potential future uses as diverse as antique shows, concerts and circuses — but a dance club is not on the list.

Thursday's incident involved an event billed as the Barstool Blackout Tour, in which revelers — often scantily clad — move to electronic dance music spun by DJs amid strobe and laser lighting while being sprayed with soaplike foam.

"I would say that's not a concert," Jamison said Monday.

Even if it were, he said, the facility would still need a cabaret license issued by the city clerk with input from police, which it doesn't have. That licensing system was established in March and imposed a raft of new regulations on who can host live music and when.

The city praised the system as a more consistent and accountable way to regulate entertainment and protect neighborhood quality of life. But critics, who continue to push for changes to the law, called it an overreach that would harm the city's arts and music scene.

For years, the armory was owned by the state and therefore not subject to city zoning law. But, according to the 2007 BZA decision, that changed when the facility was privatized in 2004 and became what is now the Armory Sports and Convention Arena.

Thursday's fracas has also triggered a wave of recrimination among neighbors around the Lark Street area, who have said drunken revelers spill out from the raucous parties and onto otherwise quiet residential streets late at night.

But Armory officials have called Thursday's melee an isolated incident and blamed the party promoter's desire to let attendees in all at once.

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU