Brookhaven aldermen denied a request for a beer permit recently because the building was too close to a church. This week, the board narrowly passed requests for two other beer permits, expressing concerns about how these requests were approved.

The City of Brookhaven’s alcoholic beverages ordinance states, “No person shall sell or offer for sale any beer within 400 feet of any church, school, kindergarten, or funeral home.” That distance is shortened to 100 feet if the area is zoned as commercial or industrial. The minimum distances “shall be measured from the nearest point of the building housing the church, school, kindergarten or funeral home to the nearest point of the premises which consists of the floor planned area to be licensed … This distance shall be measured in a straight line, such as air line distance, rather than the usual route of pedestrian travel.”

Any establishment applying for a permit to sell beer must have pre-approval from both the Brookhaven Fire Department and Brookhaven Police Department. The BFD inspector is responsible for only issues of fire safety.

The BPD is responsible to make certain the applicant meets certain qualifications, such as being over 21 years old, not a convicted felon, and not having had a liquor license revoked.

Exceptions can be made by the mayor and aldermen in some instances.

On Nov. 5, concerning the permit request by Pearl Haven Café, Board attorney Bobby Moak advised aldermen to strike the request from the docket and not consider it, because the business did not meet the minimum distance standards specified in the ordinance.

The docket item read, “Approve a beer permit for the Pearl Haven Café & Event Center owned by David Kelly, located at 211 Railroad Street, to sell beer for consumption. Police Chief Kenneth Collins and Fire Inspector Stanley Dixon have approved.”

Ward 2 Alderman Shannon Moore asked why the chief and inspector would have approved the request if it did not meet the distance requirements?

Moak said it may have been reviewed only in terms of fire or crime hazards, but the board should not consider it.

Alderman-at-large Don Underwood stated in this week’s meeting that he would no longer vote to approve any beer permit requests.

“I’m not going to vote for any more of these beer permits because at the last meeting we discovered no one apparently checks them,” he said.

Moak suggested wording be changed in the ordinances to specify who was responsible for checking distance measurements in order to prevent such issues in the future.

In a vote of 4-3, the board approved the permit requests for Dollar General, 771 Industrial Park Road, to sell beer for off-premises consumption, and for El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant, 912 Brookway Blvd., to sell beer for on-premise consumption. Both businesses meet the ordinance requirements.

Ward 1 Alderman James Magee Jr. and Ward 6 Alderman Andre’ Spiller joined Underwood in casting “no” votes.