AUGUST 14, 2009 10:08:00 AM
TIM PRATT
The Starkville Board of Aldermen is expected to vote Tuesday on proposed amendments to the city’s alcohol ordinance after it holds a second public hearing on the matter.
But the amendments have been revised since Aug. 4 when aldermen held the first hearing. Citizens at the Aug. 4 hearing were concerned because the amendments not only would have allowed alcohol sales on Sundays, but also extended the hours businesses would have been able to sell alcohol by two hours on weeknights, from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m., and one hour on Friday and Saturday nights, from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The version up for discussion Tuesday won’t include the longer hours, except on Sundays. It would allow businesses to sell alcohol from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays — alcohol sales currently are illegal on Sundays — while hours throughout the rest of the week would remain the same.
Citizens at the first public hearing also were concerned because the city was considering an amendment that would have shortened the distance alcohol-selling businesses must be located away from churches, schools, funeral homes and day care centers from 250 feet to 100 feet. The amendments up for consideration Tuesday won’t include that reduction in distance, but they will include a change in the way the city measures the distances. The city currently measures from building to building, but the new ordinance would allow the city to measure from property line to property line, Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill said.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
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