County opposes alcohol application, postpones decision for further investigation
Published 6:30 pm Monday, September 18, 2023
TIFTON — County commissioners were ready to deny granting an alcohol beverage license to a U.S. 41 convenience store at their most recent meeting, but decided to hold off on a vote until they had a better understanding of the scope of their package store ordinances.
The board of commissioners reviewed an application from 41 Food Mart for a retail malt beverage package license and a retail wine package license at their Sep. 11 meeting, but elected to postpone a verdict until the following meeting out of concerns for the store’s location in proximity to others of its kind.
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County manager Jim Carter reported that the establishment both possessed a business license and hadn’t applied for an alcohol beverage license before, and stated that the county sheriff’s department had recommended approval.
However, county commissioner Melissa Hughes strongly protested granting the license, citing that the strip of Highway 41 the store was located on already had six convenience stores that could sell alcohol.
As a resident of the nearby community, Hughes expressed concern that these stores would take advantage of the poor residents living there, and that granting 41 Food Mart an alcohol beverage license would only exacerbate the issue.
Hughes also noted that the store was within walking distance of a church, the Resurrection Temple, and asserted that while she was aware state laws allowed package stores to be that close to a church, she personally felt it was disrespectful to the sanctity of the establishment, and asked the board to deny the application outright.
Sympathetic to her concerns, commissioner Paul Webb questioned if the county could create an ordinance to restrict the sale of beer and wine to within the same state limits regarding distilled spirits, which would prevent them from being sold within 100 yards of any church.
Though Carter reported that state statutes prevented the county’s ordinances from being more restrictive than state law, he noted that there had been several amendments to that statute in recent years that allowed for greater wiggle room, and believed there existed potential to investigate and find a specification that would allow the county to rework their ordinances to be more restrictive.
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The board elected to table the application until their next month’s meeting to allow the county to dig deeper.
County clerk Miriam Jordan informed them that due to the item being tabled, the applicant would be briefed on the development and invited to appeal during their next meeting.