Vote on earlier bar closing times delayed

DAYTONA BEACH — The decision on whether to change the city’s longstanding 3 a.m. bar closing time to 2 a.m. will have to wait a few more months.

City commissioners walked into their meeting Wednesday night expecting to take the first of two votes on a measure that would slide bar time back one hour. But they only agreed to take up the closing time question again Feb. 16 after commissioners realized the measure on their agenda wasn’t worded the way they intended.

Commissioners wanted to take a look at getting in sync with other Volusia County cities that stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m. The proposed Daytona Beach measure before them suggested bars close at 2 a.m., but that last call would be at 1:30 a.m.

That would turn Daytona Beach’s current closing time advantage into a disadvantage. So Deputy City Manager Jim Morris said he’ll come back early next year with a new proposal that would put Daytona on a level playing field. Morris said he’ll also do an analysis of how Volusia County and its various cities handle bar time.

Mayor Derrick Henry has been leading the charge to close bars an hour earlier to help residents disrupted in their homes by late night bar patrons and police who have to handle the crime that comes most every weekend after bars close.

“Residents have said, when are we going to show them they’re our greatest priority,” the mayor said.

Henry was disappointed to see the closing time vote delayed since city commissioners had two in-depth discussions about the idea earlier this year. But City Commissioner Stacy Cantu opposes making a change and suggested slowing down even before the miscommunication between city staff and commissioners was realized.

Cantu said closing bars an hour earlier will hurt waiters and waitresses, bartenders and entertainment workers.

“If you haven’t been in the industry, you just don’t know what this does to people,” said Cantu, who worked at Daytona Beach bars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “That last hour can mean paying an electric bill.”

With employees struggling to pay for food, gas and rent, and businesses still recovering from shutdowns and slowdowns caused by the COVID pandemic, it’s the wrong time to ask bars to shut down an hour earlier, Cantu argued.

Henry said he’s trying to help overstretched police officers, residents who live near nightlife and the city’s efforts to revitalize.

Neither the county nor any other cities in Volusia County allow pubs and nightclubs to stay open past 2 a.m. Henry believes eliminating one hour of drinking in Daytona Beach would prevent some late-night crime and chaos.

“There is no doubt we have the most crime in Volusia County, and there is no doubt we have the most violent crime in the wee hours of the morning,” Henry said.