Propose Ordinance: Alcohol Sales Times in town limits

Date Posted: Thursday, April 6th, 2017

TOWN OF BLADES
ORDINANCE 434
RESTAURANTS: APPLICATION, PERMIT OF COMPLIANCE, AND
ALCOHOL SALES RESTRICTIONS
 
 ARTICLE I.  Restaurant application and permit of compliance

Any person or entity with an existing restaurant or desires of opening a new restaurant must file with the Town Administrator an application for and, if approved, receive a permit of compliance for the operation of the restaurant business.  The application shall be on a form to be furnished by the Town and shall be accompanied by the requisite application fee, as such may be established by the Town Council from time to time. The following information must be provided as part of the application process.

  1. The type of ownership of the business, i.e., whether individual, partnership, corporation, or otherwise.
  2. The name, style, and designation under which the business is to be conducted.
  3. The business address and all telephone numbers where the business is to be conducted.
  4. The plan of the proposed or existing restaurant and/or proposed expansion of an existing restaurant. Said plan shall show the following information.
  • The location of the restaurant.
  • The location’s zoning classification.
  • The number and sizes of bar areas or cocktails lounges in the restaurant.
  • The restaurant’s floor plan.
  • The restaurant’s seating capacity.
  • The designated areas for storage and for preparation of food service.
  • The distance to the nearest property line of the nearest church, public park, and/or lot zoned residential from the proposed restaurant or existing restaurant property.
  1. A statement that the establishment’s primary purpose shall be that of a restaurant by definition is: Any establishment where food and drink are prepared, served and consumed and whose design or principal method of operation is characterized by customers being provided with an individual menu and being served food and drink by a restaurant employee at the same table or counter at which said items are consumed. A minimum of 51% of gross sales must be created by the sale of food. A restaurant must have suitable kitchen facilities for cooking an assortment of foods under the charge of a chef or cook. A restaurant may have a cocktail lounge, as such is defined above.
  2. A statement containing an approximate percentage of projected revenue to be derived from the sale of alcoholic beverages as compared to the percentage of projected revenue to be derived from the sale of food.
  3. An authorization for the Town, its agents and employees to seek information and conduct an investigation as to the truth of the statements set forth in the application.
  4. A written and dated declaration by the applicant, under verification, oath or affidavit that the foregoing information contained in the application is true and correct, with said declaration being duly dated and signed in the Town.

Article II.  Sale & Consumption of alcoholic beverages.

  1. Selling or dispensing prohibited certain hours. No holder of a license issued by the Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission for the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises shall sell or dispense such beverages on the premises to which the license pertains between the hours of 11:00 pm and 9:00 am within the corporate limits of the Town of Blades.
  2. Consumption prohibited certain hours. No holder of a license issued by the Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission for the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premise shall permit the consumption of any alcoholic beverage on the premises to which the license pertains between the hours of 11:30 pm and 9:00 am.
  3. Stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages in prohibited at all times in all restaurants and other types of establishments in the Town of Blades, unless a restaurant or other type of establishment qualifies for nonconforming status as set forth in. The foregoing prohibition shall not apply to restaurant patrons who are waiting to be seated at a dining table in the restaurant and who are required to temporarily stand in the cocktail lounge due to an insufficient amount of available seating in the cocktail lounge defined as a room or other limited portion of a restaurant where patrons may sit and wait for their table, which serves alcoholic beverages and is accessory to the principal use as a restaurant. The temporary stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages shall be permitted in a cocktail lounge, but only when there is insufficient seating in the cocktail lounge for restaurant patrons who are waiting to be seated at a dining table in the restaurant.
  4. Restaurants wishing to sell past 11:00 pm must apply with for the permit with the Town Administrator. The permit application will be considered at the next Town Council meeting.

 

Article III. Nonconforming restaurants and other establishments.

  1. Restaurants and any other type of establishment in existence prior to the date this ordinance was adopted to prohibit the stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages shall be entitled to continue licensed operations with the same floor plan, configuration and patron area (including the areas for seated dining and stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages) as were in existence prior to the date this ordinance was adopted to prohibit the stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages, subject to the conditions set out in Subsection B hereafter.
  2. Requirements to establish nonconforming status; alterations, modifications, rearrangements and changes to internal floor plan.
  • In order to establish its nonconforming status, any restaurant or other type of establishment qualifying for such status shall have on file with the Town Administrator’s office a scaled floor plan, architectural drawings or other suitable documentation sufficient to establish the preexisting floor plan, configuration and patron area (including the areas designated for seated dining and stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages).
  • The owner/operator shall be permitted to alter, modify, rearrange or otherwise change the internal floor plan, configuration and patron area (including the areas designated for seated dining and stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages), provided that:

(a) The percentage of patron area devoted to seated dining is not decreased.

(b) The percentage of patron area devoted to stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages is not increased.

(c) The total amount of floor space devoted to stand-up consumption of alcoholic beverages is not increased.

  1. Except as provided in Subsection B above, no license shall be issued for a restaurant or any other type of establishment which is expanded, enlarged, altered, modified, rearranged or otherwise changed unless such establishment conforms to the standards set out in the definition of a “restaurant” contained in Article I. Section E.

Article IV. Enforcement and penalties.

  1. In the event that the Town Administrator determines, at any time, that an establishment engaged in the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption violates any of the provisions of this Article III, he or she shall notify the owner/operator of such premises of that determination, in writing, and order such owner/operator to show cause why the business license for such premises should not be revoked at a hearing before the Town Administrator to be held at a specified date and time not less than five and no more than 10 business days subsequent to the date of such notice. In the event that the Town Administrator determines, at such hearing, that the owner/operator has failed to show just cause why the license should not be revoked, he or she shall notify the owner/operator, in writing, of such determination and the reasons therefor and shall revoke the license and issue a cease-and-desist order, which shall be effective from the time it is delivered to the owner/operator. The owner/operator of such establishment may thereafter appeal the Town Administrator’s decision to the Town Council at a de novo hearing to be held at the next Town Council meeting. No such appeal shall act to stay the license revocation or the cease-and-desist order unless the owner/operator posts an appeal bond in the penal sum of $1,000 (in cash or certified check) with the Town, which amount shall be forfeited to the Town in the event that the Town Council affirms the Town Administrator’s action to revoke the license and issue a cease-and-desist order.
  2. The Town may proceed to enforce any such license revocation or cease-and-desist order by any or all of the following remedies: imposition of civil penalties pursuant to Town Code; injunctive relief in the Court of Chancery; or complaint to the Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.