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Workshop will focus on liquor store limit

By Ashley Rader

Elizabethton city leaders will take the next step toward creating rules to govern liquor stores when they host a workshop Wednesday, Dec. 5, to examine additional options for regulations.

Mayor Curt Alexander said the workshop would address pros and cons of regulating the number of stores allowed in the city. He said when the ordinance regulating liquor stores was passed on first reading, the number of liquor stores allowed in the city was unregulated.

Alexander said after the initial vote, council members and city leaders looked into how other cities handled limiting the number of liquor stores. He said if the city did not amend the ordinance to limit the number, Elizabethton would be the only city without that kind of regulation in place.

“We are going to look at the reasons why it is best to limit liquor stores in the city,” he said. “One reason is you don’t want people to drive through town and see 10 liquor stores. Another is, more liquor stores doesn’t mean more revenue. We have heard people say that more stores would bring in more revenue but that is not the case. It is the same revenue base; it would just be spread out among the different stores.”