Lilburn once again is looking to throw out some “badly dated” liquor laws.
The City Council on Monday night will consider amending its alcohol ordinance to allow for the sale of liquor at nonprofit special events on city and private property.
The action would come less than four months after the city relaxed its 1970s-era liquor laws to allow “interactive” entertainment, including karaoke, at restaurants that serve alcohol.
Unlike the city’s April decision, which was more business-driven, this change would be more resident-driven, Mayor Diana Preston said.
“People in our community ... have indicated they’d like Chastain [Park]-like events,” Preston said. “Your laws reflect what your community wants.”
An alcohol review board, formed in January and made up of five residents, has spent months “modernizing” the ordinance and pitching recommendations to city leaders, Lilburn police Chief John Davidson said.
“[The board] felt it was badly dated,” Davidson said.
In addition to changing its tune on karaoke, the city relaxed the rules on patio sales and lowered the ounce requirements on single servings of alcohol. There are more changes on tap, such as possibly allowing banquet halls to serve alcohol, Preston said.
“We haven’t kept up with the times, so to speak,” she said, “but we’re getting there.”
The mayor said the relaxed rules should help the city’s commercial annexation efforts next legislative session, enticing entertainment businesses that previously balked when the city tried to annex them in January.
“I can say for the very first time in 10 years, there is a very clear path ... to help Lilburn move into what we should be,” said Thor Johnson, president of the Lilburn Business Association. “I am a firm believer that if we don’t keep moving, we will simply become a bedroom community of no consequence.”
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