No new licenses for the sale of distilled spirits will be issued in Milledgeville for up to 90 days, following a vote by the city council this past Tuesday evening.
The moratorium on the sale of distilled spirits, both packaged to go and by the drink, was effective immediately upon passage of the resolution prepared by City Attorney Jimmy Jordan. With no discussion, the measure passed 4-0 and states the ban on new licenses shall be for 90 days or until the council adopts proposed changes to the ordinance, whichever first occurs.
Council members Steve Chambers and Dr. Collinda Lee were not present.
The resolution enacted Tuesday night at the outset sets forth the mayor and council’s concerns, reading in part that the governing authority has “… determined that the increasing density of alcoholic beverages licenses in the city limits of Milledgeville has the potential to create substantial problems for the surrounding neighborhoods, increasing the amount of litter, loitering, unruly behavior, traffic congestion, and diminishing the overall quality of life in those neighborhoods”.
The resolution further states that the mayor and council have determined that time is needed to address those concerns and that it is necessary “…to bar the acceptance of or receipt of applications for new alcoholic beverage licenses for ‘Retail Package to Go (Liquor/Distilled Spirits)’ and ‘Consumption on the Premises.’
The moratorium is the result of a discussion at a council work session last week. The first topic then was whether to include the sale of beer and wine.
“My opinion is, I think we need to look the hardest at distilled spirits and by the drink,” City Manager Hank Griffeth said. “I think packaged to go in terms of beer and wine is not a real big issue.”
Council members generally agreed with his analysis.
Councilman Walter Reynolds suggested having all necessary data in place, such as the various locations of existing outlets and the density of establishments, before putting the moratorium into effect.
Following more discussion, council member Denese Shinholster suggested moving forward.
“We need to go ahead and have the moratorium prepared for our next meeting,” she said. “And they need to work on getting the data together.”
Griffeth assured council members it would be no problem collecting and providing information for their review relating to existing distilled spirits packaged-to-go outlets and sales by the drink establishments.
After a brief discussion, the panel agreed no temporary ban would be placed on new license applications for the sale of beer and wine packaged to go.
The resolution adopted Tuesday also affirms the council’s stance at the work session that the moratorium would not apply to any license renewals or applications made as a result of the purchase of an existing business.
Griffeth commented last Thursday that the purpose of the moratorium was multi-faceted. Areas of possible discussion include the density and location of distilled spirits packaged-to-go outlets and changing the structure of the sale by the drink ordinance whereby different tiers with different license fees may be established.
He explained that some council members are concerned with the number of package stores near one another.
“There is nothing in our ordinance that says anything about density,” Griffeth acknowledged.
He also said consideration may be given to changing the requirement that a certain amount of a restaurant’s revenue must be derived from the sale of food. He suggested one possibility may be establishing alcohol license fee levels depending on the ratio of food sold to the sale of liquor by the drink.
Griffeth said he had other possible proposals for the city council to consider.
“That’s the reason the moratorium resolution is a little bit nebulous,” he said. “Because I want us to be able to have the leeway we need to make it worthwhile. There’s no reason for us to rewrite the ordinance if it’s not going to be worthwhile and what it needs to be.”