After two years of drafts and discussions, Statesboro City Council approved a completely new Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance quietly Tuesday evening.

Effective July 1, there can be bars in Statesboro, restricted to patrons age 21 and up, as well as restaurants that serve alcohol to those 21 and up, but who admit younger customers for meals. The rule that previously required every place that served alcohol to make 50 percent or more of its money from non-alcohol items is gone. Instead, when a place makes more than 40 percent of its revenue from alcohol, city officials may consider this among several factors in deciding whether the business is a bar instead of a restaurant.

Businesses will pay higher annual alcohol license fees – $500 or a little more in most cases, with an additional $300 fee for Sunday sales – also effective July 1. The extra money is to fund the salary and equipment of an alcoholic beverage control officer to work under the Statesboro Police Department. Some other new requirements, for training for bartenders, bounces and restaurant managers, and for a special permit requiring a background check for bouncers, will take effect Jan. 1, 2016.

Councilman Jeff Yawn made the main motion adopting the ordinance, seconded by Councilman John Riggs.  It passed 4-0, with Councilman Phil Boyum abstaining. No applause followed, and Mayor Jan Moore said very little about the ordinance’s passage until asked to comment after the meeting.

“I’m very proud of City Council for their diligence and effort in finally getting this ordinance passed,” she said. “It was long overdue. It will give clear direction to those folks that have an alcohol license how to operate, and it will also operate in the best interests for our citizens in making sure that these establishments have rules to obey that keep our citizens and our students safe. So I could not be any more pleased.”

Protecting students is a big concern in a community where about 15,000 residents are college students under the legal drinking age, Moore said.

Distance from campus

The ordinance sets a minimum distance of 100 yards between places that serve alcohol and a school building or college campus. There is a similar requirement for stores, but an exception for grocery stores.

City Attorney Alvin Leaphart, who has been working on drafts of the ordinance for more than two years, told the council that the proximity rules bring Statesboro into line with state law.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Councilman Travis Chance said he had been asked about the effect this would have on the owner of a commercial plaza on Lanier Drive, where Bigshow’s Burgers and Bar previously operated. Originally, the proximity requirements section stated that it would take effect as soon as the ordinance was passed.

But council members agreed to have the effective date of this section changed to July 1, to give any property owners in the same situation a chance to find a tenant who might maintain an alcoholic beverage license for a restaurant.

Under the new ordinance, the council could grant conditional exceptions from the 100-yard rule to restaurants, but not to bars, Leaphart said. He said he did not know whether the Lanier Drive location might already comply, with the requirement being 100 yards from the business’s front door to the nearest wall of an educational building.

Boyum abstained from the vote on the Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance itself, as he had announced at an earlier meeting. Boyum works for SpringHill Suites, and has recently been promoted to general manager of the chain's Statesboro hotel, which holds a beer and wine license.

But he asked Leaphart if he saw any conflict in Boyum’s voting on a second ordinance, which establishes an alcohol advisory board. Leaphart said he did not, and Boyum voted for the advisory board ordinance and a resolution setting the new license fees. Each of these passed 5-0.

In contrast to the passage of a new roadside vendors ordinance two weeks ago, council members did not applaud themselves or invite applause on enacting the new alcohol law.

“Shouldn’t we, like, have taken a moment or played some music or something? Shouldn’t there have been confetti?” Boyum commented a little later in the meeting.

There was some brief applause when the meeting concluded relatively early.

Bars vs. restaurants

Under the new ordinance, the police chief or someone the chief designates would review each licensed business to determine whether it is a restaurant or a 21-and-over establishment. The decision would be subject to appeal to the city manager and ultimately to the mayor and council.

“Y’all get to make the call,” Leaphart told the mayor and council.

Besides the volume of alcohol sales in comparison to food, the officials would consider factors such as whether a place employs bouncers or is open after midnight.

Unlike the current situation where the city clerk is required to issue an alcoholic beverage license when the applicant meets basic legal requirements, the new ordinance requires a hearing for the council to approve new licenses. The council will be able to consider past or potential problems with the location and the applicant, and not just whether the applicant has a criminal record, Leaphart has emphasized.

Response to deaths

Leaphart began drafting a new ordinance after the city obtained Bulloch County Superior Court orders in the fall of 2013 to shutter two nightclubs that had been scenes of repeated violence. With the new ordinance, the city could act without a court order in similar instances, placing conditions on problem drinking establishments or shutting them down to await a hearing.

Johnnie L. Benton, 25, died of a shooting at the Primetime Lounge, on Northside Drive West, on Nov. 10, 2013, and shots were reported fired that same night at the Platinum Lounge on Proctor Street, where Akeila Roschell Martin, 32, was shot to death in the parking lot outside the Lounge on Aug. 19, 2012. Another person was injured in both shootings.

After the council had begun discussions of the original proposal, Michael J. Gatto, 18, a newly arrived Georgia Southern University freshman, died Aug. 28, 2014, from injuries sustained in a beating at Rude Rudy’s, a now-defunct nightclub near campus. Statesboro police charged Grant James Spencer, then 20, a bouncer who was at the club but reportedly off-duty, with aggravated battery and felony murder. Spencer, who was also a GSU student, is still awaiting trial.

Gatto’s death was the impetus for a 2015 Georgia law that made 21 the minimum legal age for bouncers, among other provisions.

ABC officer

The alcoholic beverages control officer could be hired anew or appointed from within the Police Department, interim Police Chief Robert Bryan said after Tuesday’s meeting.

“But the funding is not there yet,” he said. “I’ll enter into discussions with the city manager about looking at hiring the position with existing funds until license renewals come in.”

Bryan said he welcomes the new ordinance.

“Everybody involved, including the mayor and council, has done a great job on it, and it’s a lot better than what we had, and we look forward to working with everybody to implement it,” he said.

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.