Council Debates Proposed Changes to Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance

Borough Council got its first look at proposed amendments to the Alcoholic Beverages ordinance on Monday night that could eventually allow for consumption liquor licenses at restaurants in the borough.

The existing ordinance pertains solely to the retail sale of liquor without on-premise consumption, which allows for the two liquor stores we currently have in New Providence. Any changes to the ordinance will now have to outline regulations regarding both sale and on-premise consumption of alcoholic beverages, among other considerations.

The draft ordinance with the proposed changes, introduced by Mayor J. Brooke Hern, were made by members of the Planning Board under the guidance of Borough Planner Jeffrey Janota. 

Mayor Hern, a member of the Planning Board, said the proposed changes were made with an eye toward creating a criteria around the type of establishments that will operate in New Providence with liquor licenses.

“We want to have restaurants, not just a saloon offering buckets of beer during happy hour,” Hern said. “We’re looking for something [that] really enhances the quality of our downtown district.”

In a first effort to achieve that goal, Hern said that the Planning Board’s proposed changes came from the examination of ordinances in other communities.

“The communities were selected by the planner in the Planning Board based on a consensus that these communities have establishments that might be consistent with what we might want to do in New Providence,” Hern said.

The Planning Board draft ordinance provides regulations on details such as hours of operation, what a restaurant structure needs to look like from a internal and external physical perspective, including seat ratios, and how many bathrooms and how they are designed “all with an eye toward achieving the kind result I think this council and New Providence wants,” Hern said. 

But Council President Michael Gennaro said he would expect to see the level of detail presented in the proposed changes in the zoning ordinance, not in a licensing ordinance.

“From a statutory perspective, I wonder if it's wise to do that [so we don't create duplication],” Gennaro said.

Hern responded by saying, “It was my understanding that we had to have ordinances that mirrored each other to be effective.”

Borough Attorney Carl Woodward said zoning ordinances with respect to restaurants typically include information such as minimum or maximum feet, maximum number of tables and chairs, but would not be as specific to dictate internal design and construction.

“The way that I looked at these proposed changes was that it was more internal than external,” Woodward said. “I think it’s fine because you’re going to have restaurants that don’t need liquor licenses and they don’t need to be regulated the same way.”

Woodward said, however, that after the council signs off on proposed changes he would like to confer with the Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) “to see if we can even do this.” 

Woodward said after the retail ordinance is complete, the borough will require a second ordinance that details how the four available liquor licenses will be sold. But the second ordinance cannot go forward until the first is complete.

Gennaro questioned whether the proposed retail license ordinance would also comply with local building codes.

“That is part of what I will be speaking about with the Alcoholic Beverages Commission,” Woodward said.

Mayor Hern said the ABC has to approve any ordinances passed by the council, which means they’ve approved any ordinance that has been passed in nearby towns. 

“My understanding is that everything that’s in this ordinance is something we saw and other ordinances that had passed,” Hern said. “I think this inquiry [tonight] is prudent. But I think what were going to find is that [the ordinance] is permissible. The question we will really have is whether we want to place these restrictions on restaurants.”