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City to now determine liquor store market by distance




The Copper Still Wine and Spirits on Long Hollow Pike, is currently one of seven liquor stores in Gallatin. Several more could open after a recent change. Facebook

The Copper Still Wine and Spirits on Long Hollow Pike, is currently one of seven liquor stores in Gallatin. Several more could open after a recent change. Facebook

One of the guidelines used for determining how many retail liquor stores Gallatin can have were recently changed. The new guideline will likely pave the way for several additional stores.

The City of Gallatin’s charter previously allowed for one liquor store per 12,000 residents. At a current population of 44,431, four of the current seven liquor stores had been grandfathered in.

An amended ordinance was passed unanimously on second reading July 5. Now, the decision of how many liquor stores can operate within the city will now be based on distance, rather than population size.

The new ordinance calls for a minimum of a one-mile distance between two stores, to be measured by the shortest drivable route to the center of the entrance of one location, to the center of the entrance to another location.

Mayor Paige Brown expressed her opinion of preferring to use the number of residents as a means of measuring the number of liquor stores Gallatin allows.

“I still would like to see us limit it by population but I hear the council is not going in that direction,” Brown said.

Brown also said she was concerned that by not measuring the distance by radius, it could allow for that one-mile distance for new stores to be shortened if new cut-through roads were ever built.

According to City Attorney Susan High-McCauley, each of the city’s current retail liquor locations will be grandfathered in even if they do not currently meet that one-mile limit.

However, if any of the current business owners want to move their business to another location, they will have to abide by the one-mile restriction.

With current roads built, the change could allow for at least two, and possibly three new liquor stores in the city in the near future.

Dominic Wade, who represents The Copper Still Wine and Spirits on Long Hollow Pike, asked the council to consider a 30 to 36-month hold on enforcing the new guidelines to give current business owners time to evaluate their businesses.

“I plead for that time frame for stores to be moved around – some that are underperforming, as is mine,” he said.

The council ultimately decided the amended ordinance governing the retail liquor industry will take affect on Nov. 1 this year.

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