Bulloch County did not legalize liquor stores last year, only the city of Statesboro held a referendum and received voter approval to do so, while a majority of voters in the town of Register said “no” to the same question. Now, county officials have started talking about a referendum that could allow stores outside of the towns in Bulloch’s rural area.

That referendum could occur with the Nov. 8 general election, based on County Manager Tom Couch’s statement to commissioners during their Tuesday meeting that “Memorial Day if not sooner” should be a deadline to have proposed rules for liquor stores ready. Memorial Day is May 30, after the May 24 primaries.

But the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners is not definite about a November referendum at this point, Chairman Roy Thompson said Thursday.

“We really don’t have a time table,” he said. “What our mission is, is when and if we do decide to do it, we will know what direction we will be going in, whether it be state regulations, whether it be ordinances that we create. But this is just some preliminary talking points while we’re just deciding, honestly, what to do or whether to do it.”

Nothing is “set in concrete,” from his perspective, except that the county government should draw up its proposed rules for the placement and operation of package shops before putting the question to voters.

“The only thing that would be set in concrete is that we will have our definite direction, our answers, as to how many, how far apart, distances, before it ever goes to a referendum,” Thompson said.

This means the county’s approach will be different from that of Statesboro’s mayor and council, who put the basic question to voters last year with no city ordinance drafted or specific rules proposed. That didn’t prevent the city referendum from passing, with 74% of participating voters checking “yes.”

That was in a municipal election for which only 12.6% of Statesboro’s active, registered voters turned out. On the ballot with a race for governor, a county referendum question would probably be seen by a much larger percentage of voters.

Statesboro City Council approved its ordinance containing the city-only rules March 1, and City Hall is slated to begin receiving license applications from would-be liquor store owners April 1.

Zoning question

Meanwhile, the county’s discussion has progressed only as far as those “preliminary talking points,” Thompson said.

If the commissioners do want to hold a referendum, one thing they need to determine is which of the county’s land use zones liquor stores would be allowed in, Couch observed in his brief comments Tuesday.

“As far as zoning is concerned, I know we’ve talked about Highway Commercial zones as being the most appropriate for retail package (stores),” Couch said.  “You know, we’ve had to think about it prospectively as to whether we want to make it a use created by right or a conditional use in HC because as far as zoning is concerned, we still have a lot of areas that I like to call being ‘strip zoned’ along the major highways.”

Making liquor stores a conditional use would give the county planning and zoning board a role in recommending, and the commissioners the final decision, on whether to allow a store at a particular location. The “strip zoned” areas, while designated for commercial businesses, are often in front of agricultural, residential or industrial areas.

County officials will want to be sure that any liquor stores in rural areas “look reasonably attractive and reflect what we want our highways and gateways to look like,” Couch said.

He suggested that, since liquor stores will also be opening in Statesboro, the unincorporated area nearest the city may not be where other liquor store owners will wish to locate. Instead, Couch thinks the prime locations will be at least 10 miles out, or farther down in the southeastern part of the county, or near the Interstate 16 interchange on U.S. Highway 301.

“I don’t see a groundswell of them. I would be surprised if there was,” Couch said to the commissioners.  “But I think based on the conversations we’ve had we’re not going to get in the water and the weeds about inventories and sales volumes and things like that.  We’re going to try to customize it according to what we think our community would need or accept.”

He suggested that the commissioners could discuss the issue further at their next regular meeting, which will be April 5, or hold a special work session.