The Cape Girardeau city council gave first round approval to some changes to the city’s liquor license rules at Monday night’s meeting.
Currently, businesses cannot sell any alcoholic beverages within 200 feet of a church or school. The council approved a variance which allows businesses to apply for a license to sell alcohol in these areas. The application must be approved by the Board of Adjustments, who will judge each case on its own merit. Appeals would go to the city council.
Mayor Harry Rediger supported the change.
“I would encourage any operator or anyone that would be involved in this to talk to their neighbors and get a consensus of that before it went to the Board of Adjustments so that everyone’s together on the issue,” Rediger said.
Rediger said this is a city-wide change, and there are some possibilities that the variance will be used in the downtown area.
“The thinking was we needed to be proactive there and do what we can to encourage establishments to be able to operate such business, and that would happen through the variance,” Rediger said.
The issue passed 4 to 2, with councilmembers Wayne Bowen and Meg Davis both voting against it. Bowen introduced a failed amendment which would have disqualify packaged liquor stores from the variance. Bowen said liquor stores can be problematic in mixed-use areas.