Politics & Government

Alpharetta Churches Protest Cutting Distance from Alcohol Sales

City Council wants to avoid excluding the restaurants downtown needs if a school picks a City Center location.

Representatives of the and didn't want to see City Council approve an ordinance that reduces the requirement for restaurants to be at least 300 feet away from churches, schools and bus stops within the downtown district.

Jonathan Wilson, a member of First Baptist Church's ministerial staff, told City Council on Monday night, July 16, that the church is excited about the downtown development project.

"Honestly, we cannot wait for the dirt to be moved," he said.

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But lowering the distance from restaurants serving alcohol has them dismayed and disappointed.

"I'm not here to discuss the right or wrong of drinking alcohol," Wilson said.

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For the 350 students that attend the , it is a big issue, he said.

Wilson said if this was Alpharetta Elementary School that was across the street from City Center, "we wouldn't be having the same discussion." The outcry would be too great, he said.

And Ollie Wagner, pastor at Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, told council members that churches aren't for Sundays only. He handed out his church's latest bulletin, which showed events involving adults and children every day and night of the week.

Cliff Stanfield of Freemanville Road in Milton might not live in the city, but he said most of his life revolves around his church in downtown Alpharetta, First Baptist Church. And he has a very personal reason for being interested in the ordinance change.

"My son is going to be attending the Christian school this fall," he said.

He felt City Attorney Sam Thomas describing the reduction from 300 feet to 50 feet is more than a liberalization, as it's an 83 percent change. If it doesn't affect the churches as council members said, he asked why would it be changed?

"Once you open that Pandora's box, it's hard to close it back," Stanfield said.

Even after council members explained that their churches were not within the downtown district purposefully to make sure the reduced distance doesn't apply i their cases, the ministerial staff members weren't happy with the changes.

Councilman D.C. Aiken said the reduction was not being suggested to affect the churches, which were kept outside of the official downtown district to keep the 300 feet distance requirement. Instead, they were intended to make sure that a school that might locate in the second floor of a downtown retail building wouldn't force the city to exclude the eight or nine restaurants that Mayor David Belle Isle said he thinks downtown needs to be vibrant.

City Councilman Jim Gilvin said he understood the principle, but wanted to show churches, schools and other residents the line that shows the closest those restaurants serving alcohol could be to any church in downtown, even if it was outside the official downtown district.

That was enough to get the first reading of the alcohol ordinance postponed until the distance could be shown on a map.

The distance isn't measured as the crow flies, but instead follows the route a pedestrian would have to take on sidewalks and only using crosswalks. With Haynes Bridge Road moving east, the closest crosswalk to the First Baptist Church front door will shift from almost directly in front of it to down the street. Council members and City Attorney Sam Thomas said the non-park section of the City Center project would be farther than 300 feet away using this method of measuring.

A check of Google Maps shows that to walkΒ  down Academy to Main Street from the church's front door to the existing City Hall front door is a tenth of a mile walk, or 528 feet.


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