County tweaks proposed alcohol ordinance
Walker County has revised the proposed ordinance amendment for alcohol in the unincorporated county.
The proposed amendments have been revised to reinstate the 300-foot distance requirement from churches for package sales and the distance requirement from churches and schools for sales by the drink increased from zero to 150 feet. The ordinance changes will be on the Feb. 13 meeting agenda for the commissioner to decide whether to approve them.
“There is the potential for an additional revision to be released approximately
one week prior” to the Feb. 13 meeting, said Joe Legge, Walker County public relations director. Information on the ordinance amendments can be found on the county’s Facebook page and county website, https://walkercountyga.gov.
A handful of opponents turned out for the first public hearing Jan. 9 to deregulate the ordinance to match with state minimum requirements for selling packaged wine and malt beverages, as well as the on-premise consumption of wine, malt beverages and distilled spirits.
Seventy people turned out for the second hearing Jan. 23, with about 20 speakers expressing their opposition to the proposed changes.
Whitfield, who said he does not drink alcohol, did not act on the proposed changes in the business meeting following the second hearing. County officials said they did not include the amendments on the business meeting agenda to allow the county staff time to consider citizens’ comments and the possibility of finetuning the ordinance.
Speakers at both hearings were critical that the county had not adequately publicized the proposed ordinance amendment and had allowed insufficient time for the public to review and comment.
The county posted notice Jan. 7 on its Facebook page for the Jan. 9 hearing and Jan. 22 for the second hearing. The notice, along with the proposed ordinance in its entirety, were posted on the county’s website on Dec. 23.
The county legally advertised the hearings in the Dec. 25 and Jan. 15 editions of the Walker County Messenger. The Messenger is the county’s legal organ, where all legal notices in Walker County are required by state law to be published. The Messenger’s office is in LaFayette.
The proposed changes would have aligned with ordinances in LaFayette and Chickamauga.