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Department Approval: �� REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Approved: � � Date: 1 U14/2005 Item No: 3.h Agenda Section: Consent Item Description: Setting a Public Hearing to Consider Amending City Code Chapter 302.13; Off Sale Liquor License Requirements Background At the 101 �`7105 City Council meeting, the Council held a discussion on whether to amend City Code Chapter 302.13, which establishes requirements for off sale liquor licenses. The discussion centered on whether to modify section 302.13, subdivision A which reads: A. Number of Licenses: The number of licenses which may be issued is ten (10). Under current City Code, a maximum of 10 off-sale liquor licenses (liquor stores) are permitted in Roseville. Currently, we have 9 active license holders, and we've recently received an application for the tenth and final license. Assuming that all existing and pending off-sale license holders renew their license, all new prospective liquor stores would be expressly prohibited. To permit additional license holders, the Council would need to amend the City Code. At the 10117105 meeting, a majority of the Council expressed a desire to amend the Code to permit more than l O licensees, but did not indicate how many. Current Licensing Requirements While State Statutes places some restrictions on ku] ��r� off-sale liquor stores can be located, they are silent as to tihe number of licenses that each municipality may allow. Therefore, the City has discretion as to how many, or how few, off-sale liquor stores are permitted. On July 9, 1984, the City Council enacted Ordinance No. 956, establishing local regulations for off-sale liquor licenses. Staff has been unable to identify the specific rationale that was used to set the maximum off-sale licenses at 10. Possible reasons include; 1) it was predicated on some Statute that is no longer in force, 2) it was the number of liquor stores that were currently operating at the time the Cify enacted local regulations, 3) it was deemed sufficient to meet local demand, or 4) it was an amount that was judged to be acceptable from a public safety and law enforcementperspective. A couple of years ago, Staff took a cursory look at the local licensing restrictions in other metra- area cities. The findings indicated that there was no widely accepted practice for setting limits on the number of off-sale liquor licenses. Some had restrictions, some did not. It largely appeared to be a matter of local preference.