Santa Barbara City Council explores more local control on alcohol-sales

Posted on Oct 8, 2018

Ryder Christ & Tracy Lehr, KEYT News
Oct 07, 2018

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City Council will discuss possible options for more local control on alcohol sales within the City on Tuesday, October 9.

In California, the sale of alcohol is exclusively regulated by the State Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) through the insurance of a liquor license.

Currently, Santa Barbara has 389 active on-sale alcohol licenses. Businesses such as restaurants, pubs, bars, and nightclubs require on-sale alcohol licenses. There are also 146 active off-sale alcohol licenses. These are packaging stores and neighborhood markets. There are also 82 non-traditional alcohol licenses. These make up the beer and wine tasting rooms and micro-breweries in Santa Barbara.

In a study provided to the City Council, research shows that the number, location, and operational practices of alcohol outlets in a community affects the number of community violence, DUI, and public nuisances in a community.

On Tuesday the City Council will discuss options for more local control on alcohol sales within the City.

One option includes a midnight cut-off for alcohol sales within the City. The agenda says that the Police Department could more effectively control the alcohol nightlife activity if alcohol sales also ended with food sales at midnight.

Councilmembers Eric Friedman and Kristen Sneddon submitted a request to City Staff to address hours of operation and alcohol licensing for new restaurants. Councilmembers Jason Dominguez and Oscar Gutierrez also requested City Staff to provide data on affecting the hours of operation and responsible beverage training for new and existing on-sale alcohol establishments.

Another option is a land use ordinance that could allow the Police Department to control all alcohol establishments better and reward non-problematic offenders. An ordinance that covers the level of noise, security, and design requirements would allow the Police Department to consider a 2 a.m. closing for new on-sale establishments within the City, according to the agenda.

The City currently does not regulate alcohol outlets through a discretionary land use approval process and has limited regulatory control over alcohol establishments within the City due to ABC’s state control.

“The City of Santa Barbara relies solely on ABC to govern the number of alcohol licenses and their ensuing business practices,” according to the City Council agenda.

According to a California Constitution article, “the State of California shall have the exclusive right and power to license and regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages within the State to the exclusion of cities and counties.”

This means the State could prohibit alcohol retail licensing from being issued if the issuance would violate a valid local zoning ordinance.

Another option to be discussed is the responsible service and sales training for the Police Department and curriculum within a new land use ordinance for all alcohol establishments.

A potential timeline for policy implementation and options for “grandfathering-in” for existing on-sale establishments will also be discussed.

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