Stores will be most affected by city alcohol rules|[03/15/08]
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 15, 2008
New beer and light wine restrictions set to go into effect April 10 in Vicksburg do not apply to casinos or businesses with resort status, and they also don’t apply to any business regulated by the state Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control — which means other than convenience stores they don’t apply to many businesses at all.
“There’s really not that much that has changed,” said City Attorney Nancy Thomas. “The only thing that has really changed are the hours of beer and light wine sales for grocery stores and convenience stores.”
Until the law changes, merchants selling beer for off-premises consumption may do so around the clock. With the changes, sales must stop in the early morning hours six days a week and until 11 a.m. on Sundays.
Most of the business exemptions from the new restrictions stem from the resort status, which applies to establishments selling alcohol for on-premises consumption. When Mississippi repealed statewide prohibition in 1966 — the last state in the country to do so — several restrictions on the hours in which liquor, beer and wine could be sold were put into place. However, exemptions were made for many areas of the state considered to be a “qualified resort area” by the Mississippi Tax Commission.
In such areas, of which there are 27 within Vicksburg and Warren County, alcohol by the drink may be served up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The definition of a “qualified resort area” is summed up in a single paragraph in the state law book. It says such areas are “commonly known and accepted as a place which regularly and customarily attracts tourists and other transients because of its historical, scenic or recreational facilities or attractions, or because of other attributes which regularly and customarily appeal to and attract tourists, vacationists and other transients in substantial numbers.”
It may sound relatively simple, but determining which areas qualify for resort status under the definition is by no means an easy task.
“It’s very complicated,” said Kathy Waterbury, director of communications for the Mississippi Tax Commission. “There’s so many little quirks in the process that some crazy areas you might not think of as tourist destinations still qualify.”
In rare instances, said Waterbury, some liquor stores in rural, unincorporated areas of some state counties have been granted resort status. In other cases, entire cities have been granted resort status, such as Natchez, Tunica, Greenville, Gulfport and Biloxi.
Receiving resort status begins with a land or business owner getting approval to apply to the Mississippi Tax Commission from the local governing body. If the local governing body does not wish for the business to receive resort status, the owner can still proceed with the application process if 100 adult signatures in support are gathered.
The application must include a map of the area desired to be granted resort status, reasons for why it qualifies under the state definition and assurance from local law enforcement agencies that they will uphold the local ABC laws. If all application criteria are met, a local tax commission agent will assess it and make a recommendation to the state tax commission board, which eventually votes on the matter.
In 1968, the first areas in Vicksburg to receive resort status were those where the Hillcrest Hotel, Beechwood Motel and Restaurant and Holiday Inn are located. The Holiday Inn has since been torn down and replaced with a Hampton Inn and Quality Inn. Since then, 25 more parcels of land — many located in downtown Vicksburg — have been given resort status. The areas include where the city’s four casinos are situated.
“You have to remember that resort status is granted to a location, not an individual business,” said Waterbury, “and once a location is granted resort status, that area has resort status forever.”
Those stipulations can in effect give resort status to businesses that never even applied for it, or would otherwise not even be eligible for it.
For example, a business without a liquor license issued by the ABC cannot apply for resort status with the Mississippi Tax Commission. However, if a business that only has a beer and light wine permit issued by a local municipality moves into a location that formerly held resort status, the new business is automatically granted the same status.
Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, thinks that’s a problem.
“It can create a gap in policing,” he said. “I have been told by the city that they cannot properly police businesses that have resort status but at the same time are not governed by the ABC.”
Of the 27 parcels of land in Vicksburg and Warren County that have resort status, only about half have the original businesses located on them as when they were granted resort status.
A bill authored by Hopson could potentially strip away resort status from some parcels of land in the city. Senate Bill 2501, which Hopson said the City of Vicksburg requested him to file, calls for resort status to be revoked from any location that does not maintain the requirements for receiving the status for more than six months.
The bill passed the Senate and is currently sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee. Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said House members in the Ways and Means Committee tell him they are not likely to pass the bill this year. Part of the reasoning, he said, stems from the financial implications of the newly adopted beer and light wine restrictions put into effect by the Vicksburg Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
“What the city has done with beer and light wine laws, that limits taxes coming in,” Flaggs explained, “and limiting the resort (status) would limit even more taxes.”
View copy of the Ordinance
New beer and light wine sales rulesThe following changes have been made to the laws governing beer and light wine sales in Vicksburg. The new laws do not apply to casinos, businesses with resort status and businesses governed by the state Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control.Groceries and convenience stores may not sell beer or light wine between the hours of 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and between 2 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sunday.People younger than 21 may not enter businesses serving beer or light wine, except where permitted by Mississippi law.Groceries and convenience stores may not sell single beers or light wine from ice tubs or similar containers, other than a mechanical refrigeration unit.Brown-bagging, as defined as the act of carrying beer, light wine or alcohol into a public or private establishment, is legal except between the hours of 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and between 2 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sunday.Neighborhood bars or clubs within a residential zone must close by 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday, and not reopen until 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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