The Habersham County Commission revoked a business license during Monday night’s meeting. Good Vibes Event Center Co. was accused by the Director of Planning and Development Mike Beecham of violating county codes when the center served food and alcohol.
Troy Dill from the Planning and Development Department spoke on behalf of Beecham who was unavailable to attend the meeting. Dill outlined several violations of county ordinances, primarily stemming from the center’s unauthorized service of food and alcohol on the premises.
According to Dill, Chakeithia Burtch, the applicant for the business license, was explicitly informed during the application process that serving alcohol or food was prohibited at the establishment. Burtch even wrote on the business license application that she would not serve alcohol or food at the center.
Furthermore, the presence of alcohol on the premises violated code due to its proximity to a nearby church. County regulations dictate that any establishment serving alcohol must maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from a church, a stipulation that Good Vibes Event Center Co. failed to meet, with two churches located within the prescribed limitation.
Dill provided documents to the Commission that showed pictures from social media that indicated that food and alcohol was being served at the center.
He also explained that on a couple of occasions, deputies pulled over patrons departing from the center that were intoxicated that resulted in DUI’s.
Habersham County Sheriff’s LT. Travis Jarrell was at the meeting to attest to one individual who was arrested for DUI after leaving the event center.
Event Center defense
Burtch was at the meeting to defend her business. She denied selling or serving alcohol at any time. However, she admitted to serving food at the center. She confessed that she was under the impression that if she received her Servsafe certification, she could serve food. Burtch apologized to the Commission for that misunderstanding.
She also explained that some of the individuals that came to her center came intoxicated from other restaurants from around the county.
The Commission approved the revocation with a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Bruce Harkness was the dissenting vote. He felt there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant the revocation at this time.
