Old-timers remember the days when Mt. Airy was about the only place in Habersham where you could buy alcohol legally.
Times have changed.
Alcohol sales in restaurants and stores across the county are now commonplace. Voter-approved referendums have given county and city officials the authority to seize on the revenue-generating potential of alcohol sales and to loosen their laws to allow it.
The latest municipality to do so is Baldwin.
Following the successful passage of a city-wide liquor referendum in November [out of 71 votes cast, the referendum passed 50 to 21] Baldwin officials drafted an ordinance to allow package sales of distilled spirits inside city limits.
This week, the Baldwin City Council formally adopted its new alcohol ordinance which sets the stage for up to three package sales outlets to operate in the city beginning in 2022.
REVIEW Baldwin alcohol ordinance here
Under the new ordinance, only three licenses will be issued initially. City Clerk Emily Woodmaster says that limit is subject to change once the city’s population increases by 5,000. Baldwin’s current population is around 3,500.
The three licenses will be limited to businesses that comply with the following conditions:
- They must be located at least 600 feet away from any school or college campus and at least 300 feet from any church, alcoholic treatment center, housing authority property, or single-family dwellings in residential zones.
- Baldwin’s new alcohol ordinance also requires that package stores be located at least 1500 feet apart, be owned separately (no one can own or have a stake in more than one store), and contain a minimum of 1500 square feet of showroom space.
Package sales will be allowed in Baldwin between the hours of 8 a.m. and 11:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 12:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. on Sunday.
For those interested in applying for a license, the annual cost is $500, with beer and wine licenses costing an additional $500 each, annually. The ordinance also includes an excise tax of $0.22 per liter and a proportionate tax at the same rate on all fractional parts of a liter.
If the city receives more applications than the number of licenses allowed, an independent “third party firm” will oversee a lottery to determine who gets a license.
Applications for package sale licenses are now available at Baldwin City Hall, says Woodmaster, but no licenses will be issued until after the ordinance officially goes into effect at midnight on January first.
