A bill meant to streamline the city’s liquor license application process has been sent back to committee for further review.
Board Bill 60CS, sponsored by Aldermanic President Megan Green, 4th Ward Alderman Bret Narayan and 6th Ward Alderwoman Daniela Velazquez was being heard for perfection Friday. The bill would eliminate the need for restaurant owners to gather signatures from those living nearby, a change the industry has called for, but it was met with heated discussion and opposition as Narayan began introducing nearly 20 amendments to the bill.
Ultimately, the bill was sent back to the board’s Special Committee on Reducing Red Tape for improvements and amendments before returning to the full Board of Aldermen.
The bill’s intent is to make obtaining a liquor license less strenuous and unduly burdensome for restaurateurs. Under current law, businesses must gather signatures from a majority of the property owners, occupants and tenants located within a 350-foot radius of the business, as the RFT previously reported. It’s called the “plat and petition process.” This requirement has proven extremely difficult for restaurant owners to complete successfully.
Among other provisions, Board Bill 60CS would develop a parallel pathway for restaurateurs by creating an alternative to the signature process.
Under the path it outlines, restaurants could apply for a 90-day temporary license after a conditional use hearing and a public hearing. At the end of the 90 days, the city’s excise commissioner would have the option to renew the license for an additional 90 days after a second public hearing, Narayan previously said.
Once 180 days have passed, the excise commissioner would examine the business’ books to make sure they are in compliance with the license by making more than 50 percent of their revenue on food, and would take into consideration how many times police were called to the business for complaints. If there is no reason not to grant the license, the business would then be given a permanent one.
While most alders agreed that the general idea is an excellent one, Narayan received pushback for the speed at which the bill was moved out of committee and the number of amendments it required during the perfection hearing.
Narayan said there is no perfect solution to the liquor licensing process that will fit every neighborhood, which is why he wanted to introduce the amendments before the board one by one for discussion and individual votes from each ward instead of passing them in the bill as a whole.
He said no one neighborhood, the mayor, or the excise commission have gotten everything they want out of the bill and that is ok.
“A sign that you’ve made good legislation is that everyone’s equally unhappy,” Narayan said.
Ward 8 Alderwoman Cara Spencer disagreed with this process and adamantly called for a return to committee.
“I think that when we are amending a bill with this much change on the floor of the Board of Aldermen, this is no way to legislate,” she said. “This is no way to handle an issue that impacts, as the sponsor pointed out, 21 neighborhoods.”
Spencer pointed out that while 21 neighborhoods have been engaged in the process of creating the bill, she has received hundreds of emails on the topic, especially as it pertains to downtown.
“The bill as we are looking at it here today is not even supported by the restaurant community nor the community,” Spencer said. “This is the work that we should be doing in committee when we can hear from the general public.”
Spencer said the bill was voted out of committee in its current state without any members of the general public having seen the language settled on by committee members.
Ward 12 Alderwoman Sharon Tyus agreed with Spencer and criticized the current bill pointing out that it was full of mistakes.
“This bill is so messed up and whoever wrote it did not go through and read it and make sure that the corrections were in there,” Tyus said.
Narayan said the decision to move the bill back to committee was a “stall tactic.”
“I can’t think of a board bill that has had more community input other than potentially short-term rentals,” Narayan said.
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