Voters across metro Atlanta may have given a resounding yes to Sunday package sales last week, but they didn't get to exercise their newfound privileges this weekend.
That’s because, despite months of lead time, not one of the area’s 50 approving jurisdictions was ready to lift the ban, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has determined.
Instead, for various legal, procedural and bureaucratic reasons, it will take weeks in some places, months in others, before Sunday retail sales can begin.
Sporadic start dates are likely to further confuse shoppers and clerks as Georgians emerge from rules that have been facts of life for more than a century. Coupled with invisible jurisdictional lines determining where beer, wine and liquor can and can’t be bought on Sundays, the state may be in for a befuddling transition, industry representatives say.
“Unfortunately, that’s alcohol regulation in Georgia,” said Kathy Kuzava of the Georgia Food Industry Association. “It’s going to be a bumpy road for a while, but hopefully at some point, this will be a thing of the past.”
At least 12 cities in Clayton, Fulton and Gwinnett counties should be first out of the gate Nov. 20, including College Park, Hampton, Lawrenceville, Roswell, Sandy Springs and Snellville.
Some of those communities’ leaders wanted to turn the lights on yesterday but were foiled because vote count certification could not be done in time. By law, elections officials must give overseas ballots three days to come in by mail, and with no mail running Veterans Day, that made Monday the deadline.
Decatur could start as early as Nov. 27 if the its City Council approves new rules in time. Cobb County could have Sunday sales in Acworth by Dec. 4 if its City Council amends its ordinance by then.
But Atlanta, which approved Sunday sales by 82 percent, has to wait until New Year’s Day under an ordinance the City Council approved in October.
Fearing that Atlanta could lose revenue to neighboring cities, City Councilman Lamar Willis has looked into moving up the start date. Doing so, though, would require another referendum.
Willis said the city opted for a later start date at the suggestion of Councilman Alex Wan in order to give time for police to mobilize, regulatory offices to prepare and store owners to learn the rules.
Wan, however, said there’s little harm in waiting. The city has projected that the bump in revenue from Sunday sales would be just $100,000 for an entire year.
Sandy Springs City Councilman Gabriel Sterling, a strong supporter of the alcohol referendum, wanted sales to start today. He was disappointed to find out Fulton County wouldn’t be able to certify election results in time.
“The voters have expressed what they want,” he said. “There’s no reason to have another wall standing in their way.”
Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, who has pushed for relaxed alcohol rules for years, also wanted to start immediately, making sure the city had a new ordinance pre-approved before the referendum.
Only later did he learn that language in the document made Nov. 20 the earliest begin date.
Oberholtzer said he learned his lesson from the legal debacle the city endured for years after voters narrowly approved a nonbinding referendum authorizing liquor-by-the-drink sales in 2004. For years, the City Council declined to authorize those sales on Sunday.
Two years ago, the council voted to allow Sunday alcohol sales at restaurants, only to see a judge invalidate the vote and rule that another referendum was needed. Last year voters approved Sunday alcohol sales at restaurants.
The mayor said he wasn’t taking a chance again on leaving it to the council to carry out voters’ will. A slew of cities, however, will do just that.
Avondale Estates, Canton, East Point, Jonesboro, Lilburn, Peachtree City and Stone Mountain all must amend ordinances to allow for Sunday sales and set effective dates, sometimes in two or three readings. Ball Ground, in Cherokee County, needs two ordinance readings, so stores could wait until Feb. 5 because of the city’s once-per-month meeting schedule, City Clerk Karen Jordan said.
Aziz Mitha, who owns a Shell Food Mart on Buford Highway, isn’t worried that Norcross’ Jan. 1 start date will cost him business. He doubts many of his customers will drive to another city on Sundays just to buy beer.
“The local customer is local,” Mitha said.
Adding to the perplexities, even after effective dates some stores still may be prohibited from selling, as cities could require additional licensing when they update ordinances.
Unless Dunwoody’s City Council decides otherwise, the city — with a start date of Dec. 1 — will require stores to pay a $1,100-per-year fee to sell on Sundays, City Attorney Brian Anderson said.
That irks Bob Leavey, the owner of d’Vine Wine Bar & Shop.
“I’m a small-business guy,” he said, “and $1,100 is a lot of money to me.”
Food and drink industry representatives said they’d prefer more consistency in implementing Sunday sales, but there’s little they can say because they argued for local control at the state Capitol earlier this year and got just that.
“The way I look at it, we’ve waited since Prohibition to get this close,” said Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores. “I think our customers can wait a few weeks until we’ve dotted all our i’s and crossed our t’s.”
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