Monitor In A Minute: Liquor, liquor and more liquor

By JANE MCCLURE

License request to hearing

Target Corporation’s request for an off-sale liquor license at its Midway store is en route to a St. Paul City Council legislative hearing, most likely in July. The Union Park District Council (UPDC) Land Use Committee voted June 8 to seek the legislative hearing, citing uncertainty as to how required distances are met. A 45-day comment period on the license ended June 26.

The distance issues have been debated since the license request was brought forward last year. Target wishes to replace the café at its Midway store with a liquor store.

Midway SuperTarget is at 1300 University Ave. Big Top Liquors is part of Midway Center, at 1574 University Ave. St. Paul has distance requirements for off-sale liquor licenses, with licensees required to be at least one-half mile apart. But there is disagreement as to how to measure that distance. Jonathan Redberg, a licensing analysis for Target, said corporate officials believe they meet the distance requirement. Target measured the distance from Big Top to the planned new store space.

“In fact we exceed the half-mile distance,” he said. Target did its measurements from what is now the store’s café because that is considered a separate premises, Redberg said. The liquor store would have its own entrance and exit doors and cashiers, as required by state law. Patrons would have to pay for alcohol in the store and could not purchase liquor store items from the main store’s cashiers.

But Big Top representatives are challenging how the distance is measured from the Big Top building to the Target building. Attorney Scott Banas, who is working with Big Top, said those issues need to be explored more fully.

“What’s left open is the question of what measuring building to building means,” Banas said. He said the measurement, depending on how it is made, “could be a matter of inches.”

Last year city Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI) officials asked Target to verify the measurements before the license request could go ahead.

Grabbing a growler got easier

Beer drinkers hoping to grab a growler in St. Paul on Sunday will able to do so soon. On a 5-1 vote May 27, the St. Paul City Council amended city liquor ordinances to allow Sunday growler sales. A growler is a large bottle or jug of beer, typically holding 64 ounces. The change takes effect in this month.

Council President Russ Stark brought the change forward at the behest of craft brewery owners in the Midway. Craft brewery owners argue that Sunday sales of growlers will help their fledgling businesses become more viable.

During the 2015 legislative regular session, Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill that allows breweries to sell their own beer in the refillable jugs.

Growler sales will be allowed 8am to 8pm Sundays. Another amendment also benefits those who like a mimosa or Bloody Mary with Sunday breakfast, moving the sale of liquor at restaurants on Sundays from 10am to 8am.

Liquor licenses under study

Area restaurant owners who full liquor licenses could be in luck. Allowing more restaurants to obtain full liquor licenses, and changing a mandatory food-to-alcohol ratio, are under study in St. Paul. Discussions of possible city ordinance and charter are underway and are expected to continue for several months.

Restaurant owners and city licensing officials said the demands for new regulations reflect everything from how bars and restaurants have changed over time, to how people eat out. “We have restaurant owners who choose not to come to St. Paul because they cannot obtain full liquor licenses,” said Dan Niziolek, deputy director of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI).

But in parts of St. Paul, where on-sale liquor licenses are more plentiful, there are worries that relaxing regulations to benefit some neighborhoods will hurt other places that have coped for years with problem bars and rowdy behavior.

St. Paul’s city charter restricts the number of liquor licenses by ward and has a citywide cap of 215. The caps were set through an old system of liquor patrol districts. About 20 are available, according to DSI staff.

Ward Four has only 16 liquor licenses, and all are spoken for.

One idea being discussed is that of redefining restaurants, in a way that excludes new restaurants from the current ward caps. Another change sought by restaurant owners is to change the city’s requirement that 60 percent of restaurant sales be for food. The so-called 60-40 rule is meant to keep restaurants from operating as bars. But given the popularity of more costly craft beers and the rise in beer costs, restaurant owners said meeting the cap is a challenge even for places serving wine and beer.