photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., Thursday, July 7, 2016

City leaders have repealed a decades-old restriction on alcohol sales that, at least in recent years, was rarely enforced but required them to go through a time-consuming review process.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission struck a provision from city code that restricted alcohol sales within 400 feet of a school or church. The original concept for the provision was enacted in October 1933, according to City Clerk Sherri Riedemann, meaning that it dates back to the end of U.S. alcohol prohibition.

The Lawrence ordinance was more restrictive than Kansas state law, which already prohibits retail liquor stores within 200 feet of any school, college or church. In addition to that, the local ordinance prohibited venues such as bars and restaurants, as well as temporary events such as outdoor concerts or neighborhood block parties, from selling alcohol within 400 feet of a school or church. The commission could waive the restriction, but not without first going through a public notification and hearing process. Following the public hearing, the commission had to “find that the proximity of the sale of alcohol is not adverse to the public welfare or safety.”

Affected churches and schools very rarely object, and following one such hearing, commissioners asked city staff to reconsider the provision.

When city staff subsequently examined the issue, it found that in the past five years, the commission has held 33 such waiver hearings, seven of which were for permanent premises and 26 for temporary events, according to a city staff memo to the commission. The memo states that staff found that in the majority of these hearings, no public comment was provided and only once did a neighboring school or church object to the waiver. For all 33 hearings, the commission found that it was not adverse to the public welfare or safety and granted the waiver to allow the sale of alcohol.

City staff ultimately agreed with the commissioners, stating in the memo that the restriction on location is “anachronistic and the process burdensome” and the repeal of the provision was placed on the commission’s Tuesday consent agenda. Staff also noted in the memo that even without the 400-foot restriction, the commission still reviews liquor licenses and temporary permits for alcohol sales.