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City moves to make it easier for restaurants to serve alcohol

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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Aug 16, 2007 - 12:06:53 am CDT

Ask most people what a restaurant is, and you’d probably get pretty similar definitions.

Ask city officials, though, and you’d probably come up empty, because the city doesn’t have a definition, at least not in the legal sense.

But a move is afoot to change that.

Under a plan approved by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission on Wednesday, restaurants for the first time would be defined in the zoning code.

Other changes to the code would make it easier for restaurants to get approval to sell alcohol.

Under the proposed changes, restaurants would be defined as any business that derives at least 60 percent of its gross sales from food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Currently, the zoning code treats all businesses that sell alcohol the same, requiring them to seek a special permit to sell alcohol in all but three zoning districts.

To get that special permit, the premises must be at least 100 feet from any residences and community uses, such as churches or parks.

Under the new rules, businesses that qualify as restaurants would automatically qualify for liquor license approval if they met the conditions of their zoning district and also the new conditions that would be added as part of the proposal.

Those conditions are:

* The business must serve full-course meals as defined in state statute.

* The business must close by midnight, with any outdoor seating areas closing by 11 p.m.

* The entrance door to the business be at least 100 feet from any residence, park, church or day care, or, if it is not, it must face away from them.

The change in the zoning code was sought by the owners of the  Westgate Shopping Center on West O Street. A new restaurant wants to open there, but under existing zoning rules, much of its center would be off-limits to alcohol sales.

Though the change was sought by one specific party, Mark Hunzeker, an attorney representing the shopping center owners, said it would benefit older shopping centers by encouraging restaurants to move there.

Several commissioners seemed to agree.

“This just adds to the sustainability and viability of older neighborhoods to have their own restaurants,” said Commissioner Mary Strand.

No one spoke in opposition to the change, although Tracy Corr, representing the Lincoln Neighborhood Alliance, asked the commission to delay action for a few weeks to give neighborhood groups more time to research the changes and their possible effects.

A motion to delay action two weeks failed on a 4-4 vote, and commissioners then voted 6-2 to approve the change. Commissioners Jon Carlson and Dick Esseks voted against the plan, saying they felt a delay was the most appropriate course.

The plan will now go to the City Council, but because of Labor Day, a public hearing on it will not be scheduled until at least Sept. 10.

Corr said that should give neighborhood groups time to meet and talk about the proposed changes.

“I think we’ll have enough time to weigh the effects of what happened today and see what we want to do — if anything,” she said.

In other action Wednesday, the Planning Commission:

* Approved annexation of about 40 acres of land at 89th Street and Leighton Avenue and a zoning change to allow 133 town homes.

The development, called Cedar Cove Townhomes, is next to a site owned by Lincoln public schools for a possible future elementary school.

* Rejected a zoning change on the northwest corner of 84th Street and Old Cheney Road.

The City Council approved commercial zoning of the nearly six-acre site in 2000, but then-Mayor Don Wesely vetoed it. In 2005, the council approved commercial zoning for 22,000 square feet on the site, but Realty Trust officials said the restrictions made it difficult to market the site and sought commercial zoning for the whole site.

But the commission rejected the request after planning officials noted homes had been built and street decisions made in the area based on the premise most of the site would be residential.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.  


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Comm UnSense wrote on August 16, 2007 8:00 am:
" Woohoo! I'll have a Quarter Pounder and a Budweiser, to go please. Hold the onions. "
Larry wrote on August 16, 2007 8:22 am:
" And once they get liquor at a location...what's to stop them later on from turning the restaurant into a bar or an off-sale location? Shouldn't the 100 feet be from the building, not the front door? The patrons/drunks from those establishments will be parking next to peoples homes in many cases. I thought we took care of this question a couple of years ago? "
Lisa wrote on August 16, 2007 8:23 am:
" I like the idea of restaurants choosing wether or not they serve alcohol very much. Lincoln needs oppurtunity to grow - the way business owners wish. If there is a demand for something, please city council, listen to this demand. As for zoning for even more houses on tiny lots - STOP!!! How about trying to revitalize existing neighborhoods. Make the houses already existing appealing. The houses being built are sitting empty - too expensive for cheaply built homes. "
mom wrote on August 16, 2007 9:11 am:
" i dont understand they want more places to sell liquor and how many lives has it destroy drinking and driving spousal abuse and minors drinking but yet they outlaw legal cigarretes because they kill then they can raise our taxes since cigaretes sell want down wake up neb and by the way im not a smoker or a drinker WAKE UP NE "
I don't get it wrote on August 16, 2007 10:26 am:
" Didn't Lincoln recently make national headlines for its binge drinking problem? Why encourage this behavior? Next, they'll want to hand out shots and six packs on street corners. Anything for a buck. Even it kills us. "
Troy wrote on August 16, 2007 11:37 am:
" Adding more "walls" to alcohol sales doesn't help anyone. 25 years ago the drinking age in Nebraska was 19 allowing college students to drink responsibly in a controlled environment. After raising the age to 21 you now have binge drinking. Did Lincoln become a den of alcoholics when they started allowing restaurants to serve on Sunday? I don't think so. Alcohol is available in every supermarket and convenience store. All these silly "100 foot" rules do is keep neighborhood shopping areas empty. What do you think encourages crime more, a viable restaurant or a row of empty store fronts? "
Jodi wrote on August 16, 2007 1:21 pm:
" I agree that restaurants should be allowed to serve alcohol. One instance I can think of is Qdoba, in Gateway Mall, that's been open for two or three years, and still has a "coming soon" sign over it's alcohol options (which are bottled beer, I think.) It's separated by little more than a mall entrance from Applebees, which has long served alcoholic beverages. I don't know what the holdup has been--comparable restaurant Chipotle serves alcohol in both its downtown and its Pine Lake locations. Having a drink with dinner, in moderation, and choosing not to drive drunk, isn't going to hurt a legal, responsible adult. That said, I would like to see restaurants that cater to families not prominently display alcohol where kids can see it, or at least offer the option to parents so they can choose when and how their kids are exposed to alcohol. Perhaps even offering "family" seating, where the server will remove the colorful mixed drinks menu from the table and/or provide menus for the kids with no alcohol listed. "
InLNK wrote on August 16, 2007 1:37 pm:
" I am afraid that Troy is missing the point. Increasing alcohol consumption venues is a health issue, not an economic issue. If this were not true, we would still have smoking in bars and restaurants. It is time for Lincolites to wake up to this fact! "
Troy wrote on August 16, 2007 4:12 pm:
" Why do people keep equating alcohol and smoking? With smoking the person in the next seat over gets to breathe the smoke whether they wanted it not. This is not the case with alcohol. Wouldn't it be better if you could go to a restaurant down the block rather than having to drive across town simply because the nearby strip mall is too close to a day care center (which isn't even open at night when most restaurants are busy)? "
At your service wrote on August 16, 2007 11:00 pm:
" These regulations are ridiculous. First, how is this going to be enforced? Is every restaurant owner going to be required to submit an annual certifed audit? Second, I've worked at bona fide restaurants that served food and alcohol after 11 p.m. and 99 percent of our patrons were stone-cold sober when they arrived. They had just left a ball game, gotten off work, finished painting the bathroom, gotten back into town, etc. Lincoln is already short on good restaurants that are open past 9 p.m. The city will will never generate a good convention/concert business until there are good sit-down restaurants available to those of us who prefer a late dinner. Lincolnites need to grow up. "
Nebraskan Singaporian wrote on August 17, 2007 12:15 am:
" Let's just celebrate the fact that Lincoln is relaxing! Our neiborhoods are a scandal for their total lack of non-neighborliness; if we can somehow revitalaize the concepts community resturants [mom'n pop type places], where folks can go for a steak and, god forbid, a beer, the whole concept of "neighnorhood" may be revitalized. As it stands right now, our city's residents live on street blocks filled with houses; in the future, we may even be able to take this whole neighborhood thing a step further and usher in integrated-neighborhoods, where there is an actual community, rather than an illusion thereof. "
walt wrote on August 25, 2007 5:14 pm:
" We went to 9 South Chargrill for dinner with friends from out of state and they told us they couldn't serve alcohol because of the 100 foot rule. Its a great place to eat would have been nice to have had a glass of wine. "

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