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June 10, 2010

Chatsworth puts liquor-by-drink on ballot

Mark Millican markmillican@daltoncitizen.com

To pour, or not to pour?

That will be the question for Chatsworth voters on July 20 when they consider liquor-by-the-drink as a referendum on the July 20 primary election ballot.

City Council members voted 4-0 Monday night to approve placing the referendum on the ballot. Councilman Fred Welch emphasized on Wednesday the measure concerns a pouring license only.

“I’ve had a couple (of people) ask a couple of questions,” he said. “We’re not going to sell liquor by the bottle. It’s by the drink. It’d be the same stipulations as we have, probably, with our beer and wine consumption — you have to have so much food sales in order to qualify. I’ve already had some other people (say), ‘Well, we’re going to open a liquor store.’ No, it’s not on the referendum. All it is is a pouring license, and that’s to try and draw some restaurants in. It’s not to go hog-wild on alcohol or anything like that. It’s a very limited situation.”

Welch said city officials are not supporting or disapproving by-the-drink sales.

“That’s one of the things that the (Market Street Strategies) study showed,” he said of the recommendation that some restaurants be allowed to serve liquor by-the-drink. “We’re not endorsing it other than letting voters make that decision. That’s pretty much my thesis on it. All I agreed to do was put it on the ballot and let voters make the decision, not us.”

Rev. Danny Cochran of Holly Creek Baptist Church served on the city-county strategic vision planning committee that included the Market Street Strategies recommendations.

“I live outside the city limits of Chatsworth,” he said. “The residents of the city of Chatsworth will have to make this decision. However, it’s my opinion that increasing the availability of alcoholic beverages is not in the overall best interest of any community.”

Chatsworth Mayor Tyson Haynes said he preferred not to comment in the newspaper about the issue, but preferred to let voters make the decision.

Councilwoman Celeste Martin said the economic development plan promoted by Market Street Strategies to the city and county led to the decision to put the pouring license question on the ballot.

“This was one of the recommendations that they had,” she said. “As we go through this plan and divide up who takes what part of the implementation process, the city of Chatsworth was the implementer ... for taking this to its next step. We’re ready to see some growth, and it was one of the things that has been tossed around. Of course, it’s a controversial issue and because of the controversy I think we’re ready to get it out there, see what people say and know where we stand.”

Martin said having the economic development plan in place — and possibly passing the referendum — will help the person who will be hired as city-county economic development director.

“We feel like they need to know what tools are available when it comes to recruiting new businesses,” she said of the director. “So we don’t want to have to wait until we have a reactive approach where we have to come back and say, ‘Well, let’s see if we can get that in place.’ We already want to have these things in place so that whatever that person needs to do they’ll be able to handle it.”

Martin said Wednesday she had not yet heard back from any city residents, pro or con, about the council allowing residents to vote on the possibility of being able to buy a mixed drink in Chatsworth

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