BOZEMAN- Downtown restaurants near churches and schools will now be able to sell beer and wine.
City Commission unanimously approved the motion to allow restaurants in the B-3 and B-2M districts to obtain a beer and wine license as long as they sell food.
"It requires all of the facilities of support to actually function as a restaurant, not a restaurant lite or some other version of that,” said Bozeman Planner Tom Rogers.
The exemption also stated restaurants with these licenses cannot allow gambling. However, the city did strike the requirement from the motion that customers who ordered alcohol must be also ordering food.
Montana code states that businesses within 600 ft of a school or church cannot obtain any of the 30 different alcohol licenses.
"I think it is important to look at small business and people that want to thrive in our community, local businesses, and we all know it is very hard to make a go of a restaurant or particularly a restaurant if you can’t go in there and get something to drink,” said Mayor Cyndy Andrus.
The B-3 district runs along Main St. from Grand to Rouse and B-2M runs on N. 7th and west on Main St. Thirteen restaurants in these districts qualify for this exemption.
The city plans on discussing further alcohol exemption in the future depending on the success or failure of this current one.
