Wednesday, November 22, 2000
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Wednesday, November 22, 2000 |
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F'ville liquor by the drink rules on council fast track
By MONROE ROARK
The Fayetteville City Council is moving fast with plans for a liquor ordinance, with a lengthy discussion at last weekend's annual retreat at Callaway Gardens, just 12 days after the referendum was passed by the voters. City Attorney David Winkle reviewed the city's existing beer and wine ordinance along with some minimum state standards for liquor sales and consumption so the council members could move forward from there with regard to how strict they might want the new guidelines to be. The new ordinance will have to encompass a wide range of establishments, specifying both on-premises (restaurants) and off-premises (grocery stores, etc.) use. The percentage of total sales attributable to liquor will be of considerable importance, as council members stated on several occasions that care must be taken to prevent establishments from selling only alcohol. Restaurants under the current beer and wine ordinance must derive at least 50 percent of their revenue from the sale of food prepared on-site, and that percentage will likely go up with distilled spirits, which will be sold in restaurants only during the hours that the kitchen is in operation. State law requires that an establishment selling alcoholic beverages be at least 300 feet from a church or a school, and the city is trying to decide if it wants to increase that distance and how much. The possibility of separate guidelines for an area such as the Main Street district, where churches dominate the area and attracting local businesses is a high priority, was discussed and remains a possibility. With regard to prospective license fees, a survey of other municipalities in the metro Atlanta area has been made and council members are leaning toward placing Fayetteville's fees on the high end of that spectrum, comparable to such cities as Roswell, reflecting the attractiveness of locating such an establishment in Fayetteville. Other points discussed included outdoor drinking at permitted restaurants, "happy hour" promotions not a popular idea with city officials and dealing with violators in the wake of last year's sting operation that found half of the city's beer and wine sellers caught selling to minors. The city is required to have an ordinance in place 60 days after the passing of the referendum, which would mean no later than early January. The first applicants are likely to be considered in February.
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