2016-0211
INTRODUCED BY: DICK GIBBS, COUNCILMAN, DISTRICT III
ORDINANCE NO.
Title
An ordinance to amend the St. Charles Parish Code of Ordinances Chapter 3 Alcoholic Beverages, Section 3-1. Location restrictions, to allow for waivers of the locational restrictions for alcoholic beverage businesses along designated portions of Ormond Boulevard.
Body
WHEREAS, the Location restrictions on restaurants seeking to obtain a liquor license have created a substantial burden on local businesses along Ormond Boulevard and are not mandated under State Law; and,
WHEREAS, the large number of protected uses within the Commercially Zoned areas of Ormond Boulevard have limited the options for establishing new restaurants seeking to serve alcohol and beer; and,
WHEREAS, the proposed changes will primarily affect restaurants seeking to serve alcoholic beverages; and,
WHEREAS, the requirement for barrooms, nightclubs, lounges, and dancehalls to be zoned C-3 or higher and to obtain a Special Permit from the Planning and Zoning Commission and supporting resolution of the Parish Council is not changed by this proposed ordinance; and,
WHEREAS, the St. Charles Parish Council wishes to resolve these issues by allowing for the reduction of locational restrictions for restaurants serving alcoholic beverages.
THE ST. CHARLES PARISH COUNCIL HEREBY ORDAINS:
SECTION I. That the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3 Alcoholic Beverages, Section 3-1. Location restrictions is amended as shown below in bold and strikethrough for clarity.
Sec. 3-1. Location restrictions.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct an alcoholic beverage business within five hundred (500) feet of a public playground or a building used exclusively as a church, synagogue, public library, playground, licensed day care centers, school, except a school for business education conducted as a business college.
(1) Waiver of distance requirements for restaurant establishments. For purposes of this section, a restaurant establishment shall be defined as an establishment with a Class A-R restaurant permit as per section 3-1 of this code. The parish council may waive the five-hundred-foot requirement to not less than three hundred (300) feet from the protected church, synagogue, public library, playground, licensed day care center or school, provided the protected organization agrees in writing to waive opposition to the issuance of a permit for the applicant.
(2) Waiver of distance requirements for restaurant establishments (as previously defined in this section) with frontage on Ormond Boulevard, north of the Illinois Central rail line, ending at Villere Drive on the west side and Houmas Place on the east side, the parish council may waive the five-hundred-foot requirement from the protected church, synagogue, public library, playground, licensed day care center or school, provided the protected organization agrees in writing to waive opposition to the issuance of a permit for the applicant.
(32)Any permit issued under this section wherein the distance requirements have been waived by resolution of the parish council is not assignable or transferable in any fashion. In the event that the restaurant establishment and/or its ownership is transferred or in the event that the restaurant establishment is closed, any permit issued under this section is deemed voided and will no longer be of any force or effect. However, in the event of dissolution of a partnership by the death of a partner, the surviving partners may operate under the partnership permit.
(b) If the area affected by this section is undeveloped and there are no sidewalks, the measurement of the distance set forth in subsection (a) hereof shall be in a straight line from nearest point to nearest point of property lines. In developed areas, this distance shall be measured as a person walks using the sidewalk from the nearest point of the property line of the church, synagogue, public library, playground, licensed day care centers or school to the nearest point of the premises to be licensed.
(c) The provisions of this section do not apply to any premises which are maintained as a bona fide hotel, railway car, or fraternal organization, nor to any licensed drugstores which are licensed under state law to sell alcoholic beverages. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any premises which has been licensed to deal in alcoholic beverages prior to the adoption of this section.
(d) Should any property licensed to deal in alcoholic beverages be located within a distance less than that provided for in this section from property which is purchased or acquired after the license was obtained and permit issued for the construction, erection, movement or development of a public playground, or a building used exclusively as a church, synagogue, public library, playground, licensed day care centers or school, except a school for business education conducted as a business college or school, such subsequent purchase or acquisition shall not be grounds for the revocation, withholding, denial or refusal to renew the license on said premises.
(e) Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) or imprisonment in the parish jail for not more than thirty (30) days, or both, at the discretion of the court. Each day's conduct of a beverage business in violation of this section shall constitute a separate offense and/.or violation thereof.
The foregoing ordinance having been submitted to a vote, the vote thereon was as follows:
And the ordinance was declared adopted this day of , 2016, to become effective five (5) days after publication in the Official Journal.
CHAIRMAN:_________________________________________
SECRETARY:________________________________________
DLVD/PARISH PRESIDENT:____________________________
APPROVED:______________ DISAPPROVED:_____________
PARISH PRESIDENT:_________________________________
RETD/SECRETARY:__________________________________
AT:_______________ RECD BY: _______________________