December 3, 2008
The Arab City Council
approved an amendments Monday night to the alcohol ordinance
passed two years ago by the previous council. The council
also approved bylaws governing the Alcohol License Review
Committee.
The council
actions cleared the way for beginning the application process.
Arab Mayor Gary Beam said they hope to begin issuing
applications December 10.
The council made
two changes to the proposed amendments and pent about 1 hour
discussing signage requirements for businesses applying to sell
alcoholl.
The word residence was removed
from the section dealing with Class 1 and Class 2 Lounges that
required the business to be 500 feet from a residence.
Councilman Johnny Hart said he was concerned that few businesses
could meet the distance requirement because of the close
proximity of residential areas to business districts. The
distance requirement remains for schools, child care centers and
churches.
After some discussion, a
requirement that called for 1.5 parking spaces per 100 square
feet for any business operated as a class 1 lounge was reduced
to 1 space per 100 square feet. The change brought the
parking requirement in line with parking requirements for other
types of businesses applying for an alcohol license. The
ordinance does require that the parking spaces be paved and
striped. The council said the stringent parking
requirement was intended to prevent alcohol being sold out of
structures such as a barn or other structure.
The biggest controversy
regarding the ordinance centered around the requirements for
signs and public advertising. The original ordinance
specified that outside signs could not mention beer, wine,
alcohol or brand names of alcoholic products. The
amendment would make the same prohibition on signage in a window
or on the front of the building. Displays of such signs is
restricted to the back wall of any business.
Councilman Ronny Shumate
called the signage requirement too strict. "I don't have a
problem with a sign in a window.," Shumate told the
council. Most of the other council members disagreed.
The prohibition of references
to alcohol in signs also applies to signs displaying the
business name. Much of the discussion centered around a
plan by Jacob Bright to name a proposed business "Vino" which is
Italian for wine. City attorney Jeff McLaughlin told
Bright the name would be illegal under the ordinance.
Councilman Brian Bishop asked
if the section dealing with signs could be deleted from
the ordinance temporarily until the issue could be discussed
more. Mayor Beam said that if the section was deleted it
would likely never find it's way into the ordinance since many
businesses would already be operating under the old rules.
In the end, most of the
council said they did not want to see alcohol signs as you drive
through town. The council eventually voted unanimously to
approve the ordinance with the sign amendments intact.
Beam said every effort would
be made to have applications ready for pickup by December 10.
Arab City Clerk Tony Willis asked everyone to be understanding
regarding the date. "We are doing something that we have
never done before." he said.
Click to read the final version of the ordinance....
