After tentative approval Tuesday, a provision allowing drive-thru and delivery sales of beer and wine in Statesboro is one of several city law changes the mayor and council could enact when they meet again Dec. 15.
One of the other ordinance changes pending final approval is also related to alcoholic beverages. It will allow the package sale of beer and wine from stores to begin at 11 a.m. on Sundays, instead of the current start time 90 minutes later. The change was authorized by a new state law enacted this summer.
House Bill 879, approved by the Georgia General Assembly when its previously suspended 2020 session resumed in June, made several changes in the state’s regulatory control of alcohol. Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law Aug. 3.
It allows the governing board of a city or county whose voters previously approved for restaurants to serve alcoholic beverages on Sundays to authorize sales from stores during the same hours, Statesboro City Attorney Cain Smith explained to council members.
A majority of Statesboro voters in a November 2018 referendum approved Sunday restaurant sales beginning at 11 a.m., following the state’s “Brunch Bill” enactment that year.
“Since Statesboro already has the voter referendum on that, it is possible that just council action be taken in order to commence package sales at 11 a.m. on Sunday as opposed to 12:30 (p.m.), which is now allowed,” Smith said.
If City Council approves the change on a second reading, the allowed Sunday hours for buying beer and wine from stores will be 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Allowing deliveries
Another provision of House Bill 879 allows deliveries of packaged alcoholic beverages for personal use where not prohibited by local ordinance. At first, Statesboro officials thought this would take effect without any local action, but Smith advised City Council members during their Nov. 17 regular meeting that he had found a prohibition on deliveries in the city’s existing ordinance.
The proposed legalization of deliveries by retailers with alcoholic beverage licenses applies only to beer and other malt beverages and wine sold in “unbroken packages,” such as cans, bottles and six packs. The sale of distilled liquors for off-premises consumption is prohibited in Statesboro, and allowing it would require a voter referendum.
Drive-thru ban local
But the proposed local change to allow drive-thru sales of beer and wine, such as from convenience stores, does not require a referendum and has nothing to do with House Bill 879 or any change in state law.
In fact, during the Nov. 17 City Council meeting, Smith had intended to present information only in regard to deliveries. But when he showed council members a section of Statesboro’s current ordinance with the prohibition of deliveries crossed out in red, they noticed that additional words in the same section prohibit selling beer and wine at stores’ drive-thru windows.
“I’m not talking about changing that,” Smith explained at first. “The red line is what would be changed. I have not been given any guidance on any drive-thru prohibition. I’m just doing this based on 879. …”
But at the state level, alcoholic beverage deliveries had been discussed as a response to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, and Statesboro District 3 Councilwoman Venus Mack suggested that the same logic should apply to drive-thru sales.
“If people don’t want to go in and be exposed to other people, if we’re doing one (why not the other),” she said. “I mean, we’re doing deliveries.”
At that time, District 5 Councilwoman Shari Barr asked if checking ID for age compliance might be more difficult with drive-thru purchases.
“It’s no more difficult than with a delivery,” said District 1 Councilman Phil Boyum.
Back on Nov. 17, Mayor Jonathan McCollar at first suggested delaying the topic of drive-thru sales to a further work session. He said it could be “a red flag for a lot of people in the community.”
But as the council members expressed interest in this further change, Smith noted that drive-thru sales are legal in many Georgia localities.
Allowed elsewhere
“Drive-thru sales have never been prohibited in the state of Georgia,” he said. “In most jurisdictions that have package sales, you can drive through and get a bottle of liquor. I know that’s surprising to some people in Statesboro, but that is the way it is everywhere else in the state. That’s a solely local provision about the drive-thru prohibition.”
District 2 Councilwoman Paulette Chavers said she saw no reason to prolong the process but did want to hear any concerns from the community. Other members agreed, and the council’s Nov. 17 instructions to Smith were to include allowing drive-thru sales, as well as deliveries, in the proposed ordinance amendment for a first reading this week.
This week’s votes
At Tuesday morning’s meeting, hearings were opened but no members of the public spoke for or against the amendment that would permit both deliveries and drive-thru purchases or the separate amendment allowing the selling of beer and wine to begin at 11 a.m. Sundays.
With no further discussion by council, both motions for first-reading approval were made by Chavers and seconded by Mack and passed 4-0. District 4 Councilman John Riggs was absent from the Nov. 17 and the Dec. 1 meetings.
A hearing is usually not held for a second reading, such as those slated for the 5:30 p.m. Dec. 15 meeting on these and other proposed ordinance changes. But a time for public comments on agenda items is provided for people who sign up before the meeting.