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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 06/18/12 Item No.: 13.a Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Consider Setting a Public Hearing to Amend City Code Chapter 302 to Establish an On-Sale Brewer Taproom License Category B ACKGROUND 1 The City has received a request from Pour Decisions Brewery who is making final preparations to begin 2 their small-production brewing operation at 1744 Terrace Drive. In April 2011 the City Council created a 3 new category of off-sale liquor licenses to accommodate the unique retailing venue of breweries/brew pubs 4 in the City. When this new category was created the City was following the Minnesota Statutes that were 5 in place at the time. 6 7 Subsequent to creating this new off-sale category, the Minnesota Legislature established a new law that 8 also allowed municipalities to create a special on-sale category for breweries/brew pubs called a taproom 9 license which would allow them to sell their products for consumption on the premises. The authority to 10 establish this license category can be found in MN State Statute 340A.301, sub. 6b. A copy of the 11 applicable Statute is included in Attachment C. 12 13 However, under current City Code, the City restricts on-sale intoxicating liquor licenses to hotels and 14 restaurants. Therefore, in order to obtain an on-sale license under the current code, Pour Decisions 15 Brewery would need to have at least 50% of their gross sales derived from food. This is in contrast to the 16 business model Pour Decisions is seeking. They simply want to have the ability for patrons to consume 17 their product as a way of complimenting the sale of growlers for off-site consumption. 18 19 The City Council is asked to consider whether there is support to create a special category of on-sale 20 brewery taproom license; a category that would exempt them from the food requirement. It should be noted 21 that the concept behind having a food requirement in conjunction with an on-sale liquor license is to avoid 22 the types of establishments that are considered and/or marketed as, a ‘bar’ or ‘nightclub’. The distinction 23 being made is that Roseville does NOT have bars, but rather we have restaurants that serve alcohol to 24 complement the meal. Granting Pour Decision’s request would arguably blur this distinction. 25 26 If the Council is generally agreeable to creating this new on-sale liquor license category, then it would be 27 appropriate to establish a public hearing to amend the City Code. 28 29 Page 1 of 4