City makes changes to alcohol ordinances

By Chivaun Perez/Reporter

TIFTON December 05, 2008 10:44 pm

— The Tifton City Council recently approved eight amendments to the city’s alcoholic beverage ordinance to clarify rules regulating the consumption of alcoholic beverages and make the ordinance easier for law enforcement to interpret.
Greg Sowell, the city attorney, said that he had talked with Chief Jim Smith of the Tifton Police Department concerning some of the problems that local law enforcement has encountered with the alcohol ordinance.
“The whole purpose of this is to make the work of the law enforcement easier,” Sowell said. “As with all laws, from time to time they need to be revisited and updated.”
Sowell said that he wanted to make it clear that none of the changes would alter the procedures and requirements for being able to sell liquor by the drink. All the changes were essentially made to clarify the ordinance and its purpose.
The first change made dealt with the definition of a “bar.”
“The term bar had never been defined, so you had various establishments in the community known by different names.” Sowell said.
In the first amendment, the term “bar” is defined as being anything that does not meet the requirements of being defined as a restaurant, private club or licensed alcoholic beverage caterer.
The second amendment was issued to clarify circumstances where alcohol could be served on public property. Prior to the amendment, the ordinance stated that there could be no alcohol served on public property. It now states that if an event is sponsored by a state or other government agency, alcoholic consumption is allowed.
This question came up this year when the governor’s annual Tourism Conference was hosted in Tifton.
The third amendment provides that a person who is not of legal age cannot be anywhere that an on-premise consumption license is being used.
The fourth amendment deleted a provision which stated that in the case of a revoked license on a property, a new license could not be applied for.
According to Sowell, this is in the case that a property has had an alcoholic beverage license revoked and the premises have been sold to a new owner. In that case, the new owner would be permitted to apply for a new license since the new owner could not be held accountable for the previous owner’s mistake.
The fifth amendment clarified the mode of measuring the legal distance that premises with an alcoholic beverage license can be from a school, church or college.
In general, the rule has always been 300 feet as defined by the state; however, in the past there have been many different ways to measure it including measuring along sidewalks, along streets and from property lines.
“We adopted the regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Georgia Department of Revenue,” Sowell said. “It measures in a straight line from the front door of the premises to the front door of the school, college or church.”
It also adopted a zero-lot line requirement for commercial downtown areas. This was done in the case of what Sowell called “storefront churches” or churches that have moved into downtown buildings.
He said that over the course of several years the city has seen an issue with the “storefront churches” and the 300-foot requirement. They adopted the state law, which says that if a church moves into an area near a premises with an alcoholic beverage license then the distance ordinance is not an issue.
The sixth amendment determined how licensing fees and pro-rating would be handled.
The seventh amendment determined that an established 501(c) charity fundraiser which required a one-day license would not have to reapply each year for the license.
“If a tax-exempt organization has previously gotten a one-day license then they won’t have to go through the long application process again. As long as nothing has changed, the city manager can grant the license. If there are any questions about it, it will be reviewed by City Council,” Sowell said.
The eighth and final amendment clarified off-sale hours for premises with on-site consumption and clarified that a legitimate “private party” requires an Event Permit.

To contact reporter Chivaun Perez, call 382-4321.