TUPELO • Restaurant customers in the city will no longer be able to purchase a to-go cup of a mixed alcoholic drink to take home, but they can still purchase an open container of alcohol in the downtown area.
After temporarily expanding the city’s Leisure and Recreation District citywide, the Tupelo City Council on Tuesday night voted to revert the district back to its original boundaries in the downtown area. At the same time, it permanently expand the district’s hours of operation.
This change means that only restaurants in the downtown area can allow an open container of alcohol to be carried outside.
Even though the overall district is going back to its smaller size, the city is allowing downtown businesses to continue selling go-cups of alcohol from 10 a.m. on Monday through 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.
Restaurants located within the boundaries of a Leisure and Recreation District, commonly called an LRD, may serve mixed drinks to customers and allow them to leave the premises with an open container of alcohol. Customers can then carry and consume the drink on public areas outdoors within the LRD boundaries.
To help restaurants amid COVID-19 safety restrictions, the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control last year allowed local governing bodies with an LRD to allow restaurants and bars within the district to sell mixed drinks curbside, with customers allowed to drive home with the drink.
However, patrons drinking alcohol must now consume the drink within the boundaries of the district and are not allowed to take the drink home with them in a vehicle.
Now that the state has withdrawn its special allowances linked to COVID-19, the city voted to revert its district back to the original boundaries to provide clarity to customers and restaurant owners on what rules are still in effect.
“The Alcoholic Beverage Control said that we needed to formalize this so that the public would know and the restaurant owners would know the rules going forward,” Mayor Jason Shelton said.
Shelton said he received several phone calls from owners of restaurants that are outside of the downtown area who expressed a desire to keep selling go-cups in some capacity.
Shelton, whose term in office will expire at the end of June, jokingly said that members of his administration have reminded him of how much “his political support is worth” and have cautioned not to be vocal on many issues, but he said he would be in favor of examining ways to allow more businesses to sell open containers or go-cups.
“For whatever it’s worth, I would support continuing this,” Shelton said. “[Not permanently expanding the LRD] is going to be putting similarly situated businesses in the city of Tupelo on different playing fields.”
Some members of the council at the Monday meeting also expressed at least limited support for allowing different businesses through the city to sell go-cups of alcohol in some capacity, a break from previous actions.
"It just doesn't seem fair to people up in other areas," Ward 4 Councilwoman Nettie Davis said. "I can see them being upset about it because it must have been successful if they've been calling."
Past issues of loosening alcohol sales in town have, at times, been contentious among the council, some offering concerns that go-cup sales would lead to an increase in drunken driving and a decline of the downtown area.
However, Police Chief Bart Aguirre told the council that he was aware of no major issues connected with go-cup sales of alcohol.
Jonathan Waller, the president of the Tupelo Restaurant Association and proprietor of Outback Steakhouse, told the Daily Journal that his business, when allowed, sold several go-cups of specialty cocktails.
Waller said his employees made patrons show their IDs as normal and that there was typically only one drink sold to each customer. He said he experienced “zero incidents” connected with the sales.
Waller said he would support whatever future decisions city leaders enact, but he is open to continuing selling go-cups in some fashion.
“We had no incidents with anything negative when we did it,” Waller said of the go-cup sales. “We did sell quite a few of the concoctions responsibly. I think it would be a non-issue if it was continued.”
Ben Logan, city attorney, said further study would be needed to develop specific proposals for what the city could do to expand alcohol sale options for restaurants, but he predicted the city could either expand the boundaries of its LRD or develop other districts in town that would give restaurants more options.
The council's and mayor’s openness to expand alcohol access comes at the same time state lawmakers are expanding access to alcohol consumption. Starting on July 1, local package stores or retailers can start delivering liquor, beer, wine or light spirits directly to homes.
Rusty Hanna, chief of enforcement for ABC, told the Daily Journal that local governing authorities have wide discretion over the boundaries and regulations of LRDs, but the only thing ABC changed was ending the ability of restaurants to sell drinks curbside to customers.
However, according to Hanna, every restaurant in the city has the option to sell an unopened, sealed bottle of wine to customers with the purchase of two entrees and to reseal an opened bottle of wine a customer had with a meal and place it in a “doggie bag.”
Any change in the city’s alcohol ordinance would have to receive approval from a majority of the Tupelo City Council. The city's new mayor will have some influence over the decision and could seek to block any policy he disagreed with by a veto.
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Tupelo shrinks 'go-cup' alcohol zone back to original downtown area - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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