Peachtree City residents will not be allowed to bring their own alcohol for consumption at local restaurants.

The “brown bagging” proposal, brought by resident Ric Hunt, was sacked by a 4-1 vote of the City Council Thursday night. The sole vote in opposition was from Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett, who said she favored the idea.

Hunt said he felt the request was appropriate considering that brown bagging is currently allowed at the city’s amphitheater.

City Clerk Betsy Tyler noted that the amphitheater has six police officers on hand at performances, whereas local businesses aren’t likely to have that amount of security on hand.

The city sought input in letters to 47 businesses allowing alcohol consumption on premises and got 10 replies. Of those six indicated they were concerned about regulating patron consumption in accordance with the city’s alcohol license regulations should brown bagging be allowed.

The city has also recently learned that Georgia regulations do not allow employees to serve “brown bag” alcohol since the establishments may only get and serve alcohol from licensed wholesale dealers.

Proponents of brown bagging say it allows them to enjoy spirits the establishments don’t offer.
Hunt said brown bagging would not enable underage drinking. He added that the issue shouldn’t be one for government to consider, but rather one between customers and businesses instead.

Tyler noted there was some concern from businesses that they wouldn’t be able to appropriately control the serving of alcohol to meet city and state ordinances.

Mayor Harold Logsdon said he was concerned about someone bringing “stronger spirits” to establishments that are only licensed to serve just beer and wine.

Councilman Steve Boone said he was adamantly opposed to allowing brown bagging, in part because of the state law on how businesses cannot handle or serve spirits brought in by customers.

Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett said she supported the brown bagging proposal as long as it is stringently monitored to ensure compliance with city and state ordinances.

Resident Juan Matute noted that businesses can choose not to allow brown bagging.