Should Plymouth Put a Cork in City's Liquor Flow?

When most people think of Plymouth, they think small-town charm, family-friendly events and boutique shopping. In the past few years, Plymouth also has become known for its nightlife.

Recognizing the shift, city officials  implemented for this year a liquor license cap and will consider later this month other measures to preserve the city's image without discouraging growth.

Residents and business owners have mixed feelings on how the city should proceed, especially given the image, safety and economic issues involved.

On any Friday night, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people dining and drinking at the many downtown restaurants and bars, and it's tough to find a parking spot.

"I've been in business here for 11 years,"  E.G. Nick's owner Frank Agostini said. He supports a liquor license cap that is congruent with the number of parking spaces downtown. "It has gotten tougher and tougher each year for my customers to find parking spots on weekend nights -- and I have a parking lot."

City officials are proud of the crowd the city attracts.

"We work really hard to create a vibrant and exciting downtown here in Plymouth," Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Wright said. "We have a pretty impressive amount of nightlife for this sized town." The population of Plymouth was a little more than 9,000 after the 2000 census.

What city officials are concerned about is not the amount of business Plymouth attracts, but the type.

According to Wright, the city approved "quite a few" new liquor licenses last year, including several for sports bar type restaurants.

"We knew (those businesses) would be attracting a younger demographic and we worried about whether that would jeopardize the image of downtown," he said.

So to experiment with controlling the number and types of establishments in Plymouth that serve alcohol, the city implemented a liquor license cap at the beginning of 2010. There are 22 liquor licenses in Plymouth, which roughly equals one for every 410 residents of the city. No new liquor licenses have been granted this year, and there won't be until the commission gives a report on the findings of the experiment at the end of this year.

Police costs, safety are factors

Wright is the chair of the Super Liquor Committee, a committee the commission formed specifically to study ways to control liquor licensing in the city.

He said the goal is not only to preserve Plymouth's reputation as a family-friendly city, but also to keep down the rising cost of police patrolling the downtown area on weekend nights, when disorderly conduct and drunken driving arrests spike.

"There is a public safety element here," Wright said. "And the more people we have downtown consuming alcohol, the more money we have to spend patrolling the streets and roads to make sure everyone is safe."

One of the goals of the Super Liquor Committee is to determine by Dec. 31 whether the liquor license cap is the right path, or whether the city should try to control licenses another way.

Birmingham's 'bistro' model

"One of the cities we're looking at right now is Birmingham," Wright said. "They have a unique model that puts requirements on businesses to qualify for a liquor license."

The Birmingham model is based around what they call the "bistro ordinance," which was put into place in 2007.

It requires restaurant to have no more than 65 seats and no more than 10 seats at the bar. It also states that alcohol can only be served to those who are seated, and that there can only be low-key entertainment. The ordinance requires businesses to provide outdoor seating, as long as it is logistically feasible.

"We put the bistro ordinance in place hoping to attract smaller, eclectic, diverse restaurants as opposed to bars or dance clubs," said Jana Ecker, Birmingham's planning director. "We wanted to use liquor license control as a way to also control the image of downtown."

The city of Birmingham allows two new liquor licenses per year, and it grants them on a first-come, first-served basis, as long as the businesses meet the requirements. Officials also look at whether the business is bringing something new to the city, such as a new type of cuisine.

"I haven't heard any person in the past two years complain about the bistro ordinance," Ecker said. "People love the outdoor dining, the vitality and the diversity of the restaurants."

The few complaints she has received, she said, are about the obstruction of pedestrian paths that sometimes occurs when customers spill out over the sidewalk between the buildings and the outdoor dining areas.

The Super Liquor Committee will meet on Oct. 26 to take a closer look at the Birmingham model and discuss how to adapt it for use in Plymouth.

Why not let the market reign?

While some believe controlling liquor licenses is integral to the continued success of downtown Plymouth, others argue that the city should let the local market decide how many liquor licenses it grants.

"The free market should decide the number," said Greg Rende, a Plymouth Township resident who often spends time in downtown Plymouth. "There is nothing wrong with getting drink at a bar or restaurant.

"It's irresponsible drinking that is the real problem, and it's up to each individual business to make sure they are promoting responsible drinking to their customers."

Rende's wife, Amy, said she doesn't think the growth of the bar scene has hurt Plymouth's image.

"I think it has actually made the scene better," she said. "So if anything, they should keep allowing new liquor licenses."

Greg Rende also pointed out the economic aspect of the issue.

"In these hard economic times, we need businesses opening up in Plymouth," he said. "We should be letting free market decide."

Eateries eat up parking space

Restaurant owner Agostini, who is also on the Super Liquor Committee and is in favor of controlling liquor licenses, said he is not against the free market or competition. The issue for him is space.

"We're at capacity with parking downtown right now," Agostini said. "And restaurants that want to open up here but don't have any plans to add parking to their building are making the situation worse for everyone."

He said restaurants are the culprits when it comes to monopolizing parking, and that they take spaces away from retail stores.

"When I'm at capacity in my restaurant, there are 245 people here at once," he said. "That's 122 cars, and I'm not even counting my staff."

Retail shops, on the other hand, he said, might have only five to 10 people in their stores at one given time and the turnover rate is much higher.

"Look, it's not as if we're lacking places to eat and drink here," Agostini said. "We can bring in more people to eat, drink and shop here if we keep the number of restaurants balanced with the amount of parking.

"As it is today, there are a lot of people who avoid coming down here on weekends because they don't want to deal with parking, and we're losing business there."