Alcohol ordinance receives first OK from city

The Winter Garden City Commission approved unanimously the first reading of a proposed alcohol ordinance at its Oct. 24 meeting following an abundance of public input.

The ordinance previously was approved by the city’s Planning & Zoning Board at its meeting Oct. 7. Despite the recommendation, board members believed the ordinance needed work. The recommendation was based on contingencies, including city staff hosting more meetings with business owners, as well as the West Orange Chamber of Commerce, and revising ambiguous language.

City staff said they met with the WOCC Oct. 6 to hear their concerns related to the ordinance.

“We do want to clarify the new hours of sale do not apply to package sales,” Planning Director Kelly Carson said. “We want to include the option for restaurants to provide an affidavit in lieu of point of sale and percentages for alcohol versus food sales. We heard from a lot of restaurants that this may be something that they’re concerned about with their competitors getting a hold of.

“For the suspension of permit section, they wanted to simplify the list of violations and clarify that culpability as recommended by the planning board and institute more of a three-strikes policy,” Carson said. “Any consecutive three-month period the first after-hours violation would just be a written warning; the second would require meeting with city staff and creation of that mitigation plan like we mentioned earlier; and the third violation would lead to a notice of hearing in front of a Code Enforcement Board or hearing officer to consider suspension, revocation or additional conditions that could be added to the extension-of-hours permit to help mitigate any issues. Also, other minor text changes may be required for more clarification.”

WOCC president Stephen Lewis said the chamber has not taken a formal position on the ordinance but wanted to facilitate the conversations with the city to ensure business owners had a voice and a seat at the table throughout the process. 

Participating businesses in the meeting were Pilar’s Martini & Loft, Matthew’s Steakhouse, Miller’s Ale House, The Whole Enchilada, Pammie’s Sammies and Hagan O’Reilly’s. 

“The meeting with the city was overall positive and productive,” Lewis said. “City Manager Jon C. Williams brought all of his staff involved with the ordinance to meet with business owners and hear their thoughts, opinions and concerns. Some business owners felt the ordinance was moving very quickly through the process with different changes, and they wanted the opportunity to meet all together instead of individually. 

“Each business owner had their own individual concerns about different provisions in the ordinance and how they could potentially affect their businesses,” Lewis said. “We are appreciative that the city is continuing to incorporate changes based on feedback from the business owners.”

WHAT IS THE ORDINANCE?

Carson explained the city’s reasoning behind the ordinance.

“The first (reason) is to make the code more consistent with our city’s charter, and the second is to make the code more consistent with new state regulations,” she said. “The state recently did almost a complete overhaul on some of their regulations, and so this ordinance would bring us into compliance with some of those new regulations from the state. (Also), to be more responsive to reported issues related to late-night alcohol consumption, to provide clearer guidance on other issues related to alcohol sales and consumption, and to encourage and maintain the city’s quality of life and foster a family-friendly environment throughout the city — all while supporting a thriving business community.”

Carson said issues have been reflected by a number of police calls, as well as other evidence, including complaints; vomit and fluids found outside establishments; prophylactics, undergarments and contraband found in public areas; trash and debris throughout downtown; and video footage of illicit and illegal activities. 

In her presentation, Carson included a statement from parks director Laura Coar: “My staff is so accustomed to cleaning up all manners of trash, debris, bodily fluids and other detritus from late-night drinking activities that we don’t even think to take photographs for evidence anymore. Many people don’t realize that downtown at 8 a.m. is not the same downtown at 5 a.m. when we are faced with cleaning everything up from the night before.”

Carson said the city has to hire officers to do extra patrols, which costs taxpayers about $150,000 per year.

The changes in the proposed ordinance are reflected in several sections of the code, which include a revised definition of a restaurant; restaurants must have a commercial kitchen with equipment to prepare a full-course meal, including an entree, vegetable or side, and nonalcoholic beverage; a restaurant must be able to serve full-course meals prepared in the commercial kitchen whenever alcohol is served — the city added a provision that food can be pre-prepped for late-night service prior to the kitchen closing — all restaurants that serve alcohol must derive more than 50% of their sales from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages; and restaurants that serve beer, wine and liquor must provide at least 120 indoor seats, unless they are classified as a fine-dining establishment. 

The new definition for a fine-dining establishment requires a restaurant to meet four of the five listed criteria to receive the title, and being designated as a fine-dining establishment would allow a restaurant to use outdoor seating to count towards the minimum 120 seating requirement for liquor sales. 

Other changes also include the hours of permitted alcohol sale and consumption to change from 7 a.m. to midnight. The city has made changes to specify alcohol sale and consumption may be permitted from midnight to 2 a.m. if an establishment applies for and receives an extension-of-hours permit.  

Businesses would be required to submit an application with a $250 fee renewed annually. A committee comprising city staff and the police chief would review all new and renewing permit applications and determine if an establishment needs to hire any state-licensed private security officers or police protection inside and/or outside the facility. 

The changes also state a permit may “be suspended or revoked if the establishment repeatedly fails to control certain deleterious efforts of late-night alcohol consumption.” This would include a presented case with evidence and opportunity for appeal.

The new section relating to hours would impact seven businesses: The Whole Enchilada, Cariera’s Fresh Italian, Pilar’s Martini & Loft, Mr. Shot Cantina, Hagan O’Reilly’s, Tony’s Liquors and Miller’s Ale House.

City staff said the intention of the ordinance is not to shut any business down nor to punish any specific business, and the city has met multiple times with owners of affected businesses. City leaders say they have a duty to represent all of Winter Garden’s citizens, even those who do not want any alcohol, and that finding a healthy compromise is key. 

Carson said the city began drafting the ordinance earlier this year, and more than 2,000 businesses were sent copies of the original draft ordinance and any subsequent drafts. 

WHERE ARE WE AT NOW?

Winter Garden resident Jack Butler, director of legislative affairs for a national professional association who is a certified planning consultant for some of the local affected businesses, was the first of many to give public comment. He shared a 37-page document with the commission critiquing the proposed ordinance. 

Butler said he submitted a public records request when he first heard about the ordinance asking for documentation of the complaints and incidents related to alcohol that the city cited as one of their reasons behind the proposed ordinance. 

“There was no evidence provided,” he said. “There was no phone log record, there was no email, there was no letter, there was no anything to back up any of the statements. … There also is no evidence that proves any of this is related to the consumption of alcohol at any time of day or night. … I have here an email from the office of the police chief that says they have no records of a cost increase in police patrols or law enforcement actions resulting from the sale and consumption on premises of alcoholic beverages. When (the police chief) was asked during the P&Z board meeting to identify a problem business in that regard he said he could not identify one.”

In a document provided in the commission’s agenda packet, businesses that received the most calls for service included Aji Sushi (56), Beth’s Burger Bar (39) and Tony’s Liquors (23). Both Aji Sushi and Beth’s Burger Bar close before midnight. 

The document also lists incidents by complaint type in the downtown area ranging from August 2022 through August 2024. There were 1,739 calls in total, with 340 calls to 911 and seven calls related to alcohol violations. The highest complaint types listed are area checks (172) and unwanted guests (161).

Additionally, calls related to Tony’s Liquors (78), The Whole Enchilada (62), Pilar’s Martini & Loft (83) and Plant Street Market (77) are listed separately for the same time period. Only two of the total calls are listed under the complaint type of alcohol violations. 

“There is no problem documented by the city for which a regulatory solution is needed, and certainly not one that is contrary to state law, imposes significant Bert Harris penalties on the city and violates the city charter,” Butler said. “The proposed ordinance should be strongly rejected as being contrary to the U.S. and Florida constitutions, Florida statutes, and the best interests of the citizens and businesses of Winter Garden. At the very least, the city should seek the attorney general’s opinion as to the potential conflicts between the proposed ordinance and Florida law.”

Charles Roper, co-owner of Pilar’s Martini & Loft, thanked the city for meeting with the local business owners but said he still has concerns and cannot support the ordinance as written. He would like to see the next draft of the ordinance incorporating the discussed changes be expedited so business owners can review it well before the next discussion. 

Becky Roper, co-owner of Pilar’s Martini & Loft, said she hopes all citizens are kept in mind when considering these decisions. She believes many community members who serve other residents throughout the day enjoy the businesses after midnight as social spaces for when they finish work. 

Drew Cardaci, representing The Whole Enchilada, said he believes the city has tried to work with local business owners, but he also still has concerns related to the strike policy. 

“There are multiple things in there that are 100% out of our control that, as it is written, we could be held liable for,” he said. “Weapons and firearms, gambling, drugs, these are all things that are outside of our control. Obviously, we don’t want to see any of this. We’ve been proactive as a business and worked hard to mitigate these issues with off-duty officers from Winter Garden’s finest, and it’s worked. … A lot of the language is not binary, it’s subjective.”

Eddie Gaunt, owner of Matthew’s Steakhouse, said he is stuck in the middle of the discussion between business owners and the city.

“There is an exception that can be made for my restaurant that is not a part of this,” he said. “If this is going to take months with extensions of the meetings, it will impact 10 families that work for me, as well as my family. If we can somehow figure out how to make this work apart from this, if that’s what it takes, that’s what I would like to hear.”

Former city commissioner Bob Buchanan said he is in support of the ordinance. 

“Drinking alcohol was never a part of what we considered to be family-friendly,” he said. “Go to Ocoee, go to Mount Dora, go to Apopka, go to downtown Orlando, but leave Winter Garden alone.”

Commissioner Colin Sharman said for him to approve the ordinance he would want businesses to be able to do the right thing and call for police officers without being penalized or receiving a strike against them. 

“We’re not the only city to consider a measure like this ordinance,” Commissioner Lisa Bennett said. “Orlando did something similar that took effect recently, and their quote was to ensure their city is a safe place and to be able to balance their city’s resources. It seems to be that’s exactly what we’re wrestling with, too, but on a more compassionate, personal scale, because we’re smaller and we know our business owners and want them to succeed. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding, too, perhaps because we’ve had several revisions.”

“It sounds like there’s a little more work to do between tonight’s version and the second reading,” City Attorney A. Kurt Ardaman said. “Some of the arguments that were made about violating the state constitution and state statutes I think are a little not accurate. … From what I’ve seen so far, it’s a solid ordinance.”