City Council proposes changes to alcohol ordinances

Public hearing set for 6:00 p.m. on June 4 

Some local citizens have requested the Donalsonville City Council remove the current requirement that businesses selling on premise consumption of alcohol must derive at least 50 percent of the business’s total annual gross sales from the sale of prepared meals and food with that change only applying in a limited area of the City. The currently proposed limited downtown entertainment area is shown here in orange. 

The City Council’s initial discussions would require the businesses selling alcoholic beverages for on premise consumption in the downtown entertainment area to close no later than midnight. The ordinances currently allow businesses with a license to sell alcoholic beverages for on premises consumption to sell alcoholic beverages until 2:00 a.m. except for Saturday night and Sunday night when alcoholic beverages sales are required to stop by midnight. 

The current ordinance prohibits the sale of distilled spirits within 100 yards of a church. The Council will consider reducing or eliminating the distance requirement that a business selling distilled spirits must be from a church in the downtown entertainment district so that a church cannot move into the downtown entertainment district to a location that would prevent any business from being able to sell distilled spirits. 

To give citizens the opportunity to give input regarding creation of the downtown entertainment district, what the final boundaries of downtown entertainment district should be, and what changes should be made ordinances regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages within the downtown entertainment district, the Donalsonville City Council will hold a public hearing at 6:00 p.m., on June 4, immediately before the council’s regular June meeting.