The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About10.a. Ordinance Amendment City Code #-1 On-Sale Liquor License LimitsCITY OF ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ACTION City Council Meeting Date February 15, 2005 AGENDA ITEM: Ordinance Amendment City Code AGENDA SECTION: -2, Paragraphs B and L, Relating to New Business uor Re ulations 4BY- PREPARry Kalstabakken, Chief of Police m Lindquist, Community Development AGEN ��N O. ff CCI} Director ATTACHMENTS: Ordinance, August 11, 2004 Work APPROVED BY: Session Minutes RECOMMENDED ACTION: First reading of ordinance No action required at this reading, only discussion ACTION: BACKGROUND The proposed amendments were discussed with the Council at the August 11, 2004 Work Session These changes are proposed based upon changes that have occurred in Minnesota State Statutes regulating liquor licenses and based upon the anticipated and desired growth in the City's restaurant variety SUMMARY City Code 3 -1 currently is more restrictive than state statute in the number of liquor licenses permitted The total number presently allowed is six (6) in city code State law allows twelve (12) on -sale liquor licenses, while also providing exclusions for restaurants, hotels, theaters, clubs or congressionally recognized veteran's organizations, establishments licensed for wine sales and bowling centers The provision excluding the listed types of establishments was passed by the legislature in 2003 The City has five (5) on -sale licenses issued at this time, leaving only one (1) license remaining for issuance under the current language of City Code This could become problematic if additional restaurants express an interest in locating within Rosemount because many restaurants have liquor licenses to allow serving of alcoholic beverages to their customers The change in state law excluding restaurants and the other establishments listed seems to acknowledge that alcohol is not the primary product being offered by the establishments and, therefore, the exclusion from license limits The current City Code does have two (2) categories of on -sale licenses and staff is recommending that this provision be retained The two (2) types of licenses are based upon the amount of revenue generated by the sale of alcoholic beverage compared to food and other nonalcoholic beverages Class A licenses are issued to those establishments that derive less than fifty- percent of their sales from non alcoholic products, in other words, establishments that are more of a bar or night club in nature than an eating establishment In discussions with Council at the Work Session, consensus seemed to be that the City Code should limit the number of Class A licenses, thereby, controlling the number of bars operating within the city At this time, Class A licenses are held by Shenanigan's Pub and Celt's Irish Pub and Grill Shenanigan's has held a Class A license since the two license system was adopted, while Celt's had held a Class B license until they expanded their game /recreation area in 2004 The proposed language limits the number of Class A licenses to two (2) Because Celt's and Shenanigan's already hold Class A licenses, if the proposed amendments are adopted, no additional Class A licenses would be available for issuing However, liquor licenses would be available for issuance under the Class B type The proposed language allows Class B licenses to be issued in accordance with Minnesota Statutes The changes are proposed in an effort to continue to control licensed liquor establishments but puts a greater emphasis on controlling the establishments that are bar type establishments versus restaurants City Attorney LeFevere has reviewed the proposed changes and has approved the proposed language A letter outlining the proposed changes was also sent to each of the five (5) current on -sale liquor license holders `a CITY OF ROSEMOUNT ORDINANCE NO AN ORDINANCE RELATING AMENDING ROSEMOUNT PARAGRAPHS B AND L TO LIQUOR REGULATIONS, CODE, SECTION 3 -1 -2, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROSEMOUNT, MINNESOTA ORDAINS THAT THE CITY CODE OF THE CITY OF ROSEMOUNT IS AMENDED AS FOLLOWS. Section t City Code, Section 3 -1 -2, paragraph L is amended as follows L Apportionment Of Intoxicating Liquor Licenses NINK 1111101191189 .1.10 NOW 2 Two (2) Class A intoxicating liquor licenses may be issued within the city of Rosemount 3. Off sale intoxicating liquor licenses may be issued dependent on the population of the city of Rosemount One off -sale license maybe issued for each six thousand fie hundred (6500) of city population attained, as determined by the most recent Metropolitan Council population estimates Section 7 City Code, Section 3 -1 -2, paragraph B2 is amended as follows 2 Class A licenses may be issued to hotels, restaurants and exclusive liquor stores and are unrestricted as to the peicentage of revenues denied from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages Class A licenses may not be issued for any premises whichihat is on a lot, piece or parcel of land whrchthat is adjacent to County Road 42 or for any premises whrchiliat is within three hundred feet (300') of the right of way of Country Road 42 Section 3 This Ordinance shall be in effect following its passage and publication I indicates new material Erning tluougf indicates deleted material CLL- 258228vl RS215 -b ADOPTED this day of 2005, by the City Council of the City of Rosemount CITY OF ROSEMOUNT William Droste, Mayor ATTEST Linda Jentink, City Clerk CLL- 258228v1 85215 -6 B. On -Sale Intoxicating Liquor Licenses On -sale licenses shall be issued only to hotels, restaurants and exclusive liquor stores and shall permit on -sale of liquor or wine. On -sale licenses shall be of two (2) classes (Ord XVI 40, 3 -2 -1999) 1 Class B licenses maybe issued only to hotels and restaurants where fifty one percent (51 or more of total revenues are derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises during hours when the sale of alcoholic beverages is allowed. In the case of class B licenses issued to restaurants operated in conjunction with a bowling center, twenty five percent (25 or more of the total revenues must be derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises "Total revenues" is defined as all revenues from the sale of food, alcoholic beverages and nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises during the hours when sale of alcoholic beverages is allowed. (Ord XVI 46, 3 -2 -2001) 2 Class A licenses may be issued to hotels, restaurants and exclusive liquor stores and are unrestricted as to the percentage of revenues derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages Class A licenses may not be issued for any premises which is on a lot, piece or parcel of land which is adjacent to County Road 42 or for any premises which is within three hundred feet (300') of the right of way of County Road 42 All on -sale intoxicating liquor licenses will be issues as class A licenses unless application is made for a class B license (Ord. XVI 40, 3 -2 -1999) Excerpt from the City Council Work Session of August 11, 2004 Liquor License Regulations Community Development Director Lindquist led a discussion regarding the proposed changes in the ordinance that governs on -sale liquor licensing The current City ordinance restricts the number of on -sale liquor licenses to six (6) State statue places the limit at 12 Recent State modifications allow exemptions for clubs. restaurants, hotels, bowling centers, and theaters Staff recommended that the City amend the ordinance to allow exemptions for restaurants CITY OF ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ACTION City Council Meeting Date August 11, 2004 AGENDA ITEM: Liquor License Regulations AGENDA SECTION: Discussion PREPARED BY: Kim Lindquist, Community Development Director, Gary Kalstabakken, Police Chief, AGENDIM Linda Jentmk, City Clerk ATTACHMENTS: Excerpt June 11, 2003 City Council APPROVED BY: Minutes, Staff Memo from June 11, 2003 RECOMMENDED ACTION: Provide Staff Direction ACTION: ISSUE One of the Council goals for 2004 is to increase the diversity of restaurants in the community Often restaurants need liquor licenses to operate The City currently regulates the number of on -sale liquor licenses permitted, Due to the Council goals and changes in State law, staff felt a discussion about liquor licensing would be appropriate, BACKGROUND The current ordinance permits issuance of "on -sale intoxicating liquor licenses [that] shall be issued only to hotels, restaurants and exclusive liquor stores and shall permit on -sale of liquor or wine There are two classes of liquor licenses Class B Class B may only be issued to hotels and restaurants where 51 or more of total revenues are derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises Restaurants in bowling centers are required to have 25% of the total revenues derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages from consumption on the premises Class A: Class A licenses may be issued to hotels, restaurants and exclusive liquor stores and are unrestricted as to the percentage of revenues derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages Class A licenses may not be issued for any property adjacent to County Road 42 or within 300' of the County Road 42 right -of -way The ordinance also notes that all on -sale intoxicating liquor licenses will be issued as class A licenses unless an application is specifically received for class B license The City ordinance restricts the number of on -sale intoxicating liquor licenses to six (6). State statute limits the number of liquor licenses for Class 3 cities (Rosemount) to 12 However, during the last legislative session the State made modifications to the liquor licensing standards It adopted an exclusion for certain businesses, meaning that "licenses may be issued to the following entities by a city, in addition to the number authorized by this section. 1 clubs or congressionally chartered veterans organizations; 2 restaurants, 3 establishments that are issued licenses to sell wine under section 340A 404 subdivision 5, 4 theaters that are issued licenses under section 340A 404, 5 hotels, and 6 bowling centers DISCUSSION On -Sale Liquor Licenses. The impetus for this discussion centered on the Council's desire to attract different types of restaurants into the community Presently, the City ordinance limits the amount of on -sale liquor licenses to 6 The four establishments that currently have liquor licenses are Shenanigans, Celts. McDrvots, and AMF City Limits With the anticipation that Applebee's would receive approval for a liquor license, there would only be an opportunity for one more restaurant establishment with liquor in the community Staff initially was going to ask the Council to reconsider the limitation of 6 licenses to permit additional restaurant opportunities in the community The question of liquor or no liquor would obviously have an impact on what food establishments would want to come to the City The City Clerk noted that changes in state law exempt restaurants and bowling centers from the number of licenses permitted by the statute, meaning they are exempt from the total 12 licenses permittea oy the State Potentiaiiy ail liquor licenses currently issueo uy the City would fall into the exemption category The State statute defines restaurants as "an establishment, other than a hotel, under the control of a single proprietor or manager, where meals are regularly prepared on the premises and served at tables to the general public, and having a minimum seating capacity for guests as prescribed by the appropriate license issuing authority That means there may be additional liquor licenses available for non restaurant uses The change in State law could address the economic development issue for Rosemount of having a limitation on restaurant liquor licenses, so long as the Council is comfortable applying this State change to the local ordinance Staff wanted to ensure that the Council was aware of the changes in State law and that there was a formal policy discussion to change the interpretation of the City ordinance It is staff's opinion that the City, as it has been in the past, can be more restrictive than the State, and therefore the changes at the State level do not automatically ensure additional liquor licenses will be issued for restaurants This interpretation has been confirmed by the City Attorney Therefore staff has several questions for the Council 2 Would the Council like to adopt the exclusion permitted in State statute for restaurants, bowling centers, etc? This recognizes that the exclusion by the State would address the staff concern about attracting additional restaurants within the community and allowing them the opportunity to serve liquor Without this change, or without increasing the number of licenses permitted by local ordinance, it will be difficult to attract many additional restaurants to the community If the Council does not want to consider the exclusion, does it want to increase the number of on -sale liquor licenses available in the City? One option, to address a concern over bars versus restaurants, is to limit the amount of Class A licenses and not restrict or set a different limit for the Class B licenses (As currently written, the license issued is a class A license unless specified otherwise by the applicant) By making some modifications to the liquor licensing section of the ordinance, the emphasis could be placed upon restaurant establishments, those where 51 or more of total revenues are derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages, rather than on the unrestricted sales found in the Class A license Is the Council interested in restricting the amount of Class A licenses that would be applicable to land uses that are not considered restaurants, hotels, bowling centers, and other uses listed above? In other words would the Council like to limit the amount of liquor licenses establishments whose primary function is to serve liquor, for example a bar versus a restaurant Similar to the response above, Class A licenses would be issued to properties that function more like a bar than a restaurant The Council may wish to continue limiting the number of licenses and may in fact choose to reduce the current number available from 6 to some lower figure Off -Sale Liquor Licenses The_City also-restricts the number of off -sale liquor licenses dependent upon population of the City "One off -sale liquor license may be issued for each 6,500 of the city population attained, as determined by the most recent metropolitan council population estimates The State does not restrict the number of off-sale liquor licenses allowed for class 3 cities, rather noting that the limit shall be determined by the governing body of the city Under the City ordinance two off -sale licenses are allowed Staff dust received the April 1, 2003 population estimate for the City which was determined to be 16,794, Given the methodology the Met Council uses to determine the population, staff concurs with the estimate (Staff does not necessarily concur with accuracy of the methodology, however) Therefore the City would not permit another off -sale establishment until the population increased by 2,706, which would probably be in another three to four years 3 Staff is not necessarily advocating increasing the number of off -sale liquor licenses available in the community However, the Council should be aware that we have received several inquiries about obtaining a liquor license to open another store in the community The Community Development Department received an inquiry as part of a discussion about redevelopment in the Downtown SUMMARY The overarching question is whether the Council would like to permit additional liquor licenses to be available for certain land uses within the community Staff would recommend that additional licenses be made available for restaurants, which means amending the city code There are several ways to implement that change either increasing the number of licenses made available through the local code or recognizing the State statute that exempts restaurants, bowling centers and other listed uses from the total number of licenses permitted Or some combination of the two could be accomplished The Council may also wish to look at the current licensing structure with the Class A and Class B licenses If the main interest is to limit exclusive liauor stores (on -site establishments), it could limit the number of those licenses or modify the requirements for receipt of an on -sale liquor license to have some type of percentage of total revenues derived from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages Finally, the Council may wish to discuss whether to modify the off -sale liquor license apportionment from the current standard E