Council Delays Decision on Sunday Alcohol Sales

The Woodstock City Council is meeting at 7 p.m., and Woodstock-Towne Lake editor Lindsey Davidson is covering it live on Twitter (@TowneLakePatch). The council will be discussing Sunday alcohol sales and potentially voting to put the issue on the November ballot. Also on the agenda are open containers of alcohol at outdoor city events and a smoking ban in mixed-used buildings and public places. We'll compile all of the tweets here within a few minutes of their posting, allowing you to catch up and comment on all the action.

8:43 p.m. The meeting is over! And there is a thunderstorm warning until 9 p.m. as well.

8:38 p.m. The council approves the first reading of the amendment to the alcohol ordinance that Stockton presented.

8:34 p.m. The council reiterates that the events need the council's approval before the public has that privilege.

8:33 p.m. Stockton would also like open containers in city parks, streets and sidewalks at city-sanctioned events with the council's approval.

8:29 p.m. The city attorney says businesses could be violating the law requiring 60 percent of sales to be food and not be aware of it.

8:28 p.m. Stockton recommends changing the city's food requirement (the percentage of sales at restaurants that must be food as opposed to alcohol) to 50 percent from 60 percent to align with the state's requirements.

8:22 p.m. Council members decide they want to deal with the Maxwell's issue first before they touch the smoking-ban suggestions.

8:22 p.m. Residents above Maxwell's can call the police after hours when the door is propped. It's considered a "nuisance."

8:21 p.m. "I have a right to breathe clean air, just as much as you have a right to smoke," Collins says.

8:20 p.m. Brewer and Collins are quick to question how he would enforce that ban. Both are nonsmokers but don't agree with that restriction.

8:18 p.m. McLeod suggests passing a citywide smoking ban in public places, including parks.

8:18 p.m. Richard McLeod says residents and pedestrians are complaining about the smoke coming from .

8:15 p.m. The council is going to vote on Sunday alcohol sales when the governor signs the bill. For now, Moon is going to draft the necessary documents.

8:13 p.m. Henriques says he talked to two liquor store owners, and one wanted the issue to pass and one did not.

8:12 p.m. Moon is going to prepare the document to have Sunday alcohol sales on the November ballot so the council can vote on it.

8:10 p.m. Brewer suggests voting to put the issue on the agenda until the governor signs S.B. 10.

8:08 p.m. Jeff Moon explains that the referendum doesn't cost extra to put it on the November ballot, and the council has to decide by June 30.

8:06 p.m. Now it's time for the Sunday package sales discussion, the main event of the night, the one the .

8:04 p.m. The council says not to come up with blanket suggestions but to come up with a percentage that has to go to nonprofits and specific parking lot guidelines.

8:01 p.m. Henriques says there is not a liability issue because the state and food permits have to be checked.

8 p.m. "My only concern is the safety issue," Randy Brewer says. He cites a Ferris wheel in a parking lot and the lack of current state permits.

7:59 p.m. The problem with that is they don't pay a business license fee, Stockton says. Now the council is discussing doing carnivals in parking lots.

7:58 p.m. The carnival is the bigger issue at the moment. The ordinance does not address carnivals. They have to apply under special-event permits.

7:56 p.m. Henriques recommends that Stockton comes up with a list of suggestions for the council to review. They can come up with guidelines from there.

7:52 p.m. Brian Stockton comes before the council to ask for help on temporary uses because it has been a growing problem.

7:49 p.m. The council explains that a crematorium is a conditional-use ordinance. It requires a public hearing, and it does get advertised.

7:47 p.m. He cites the example of the Tucker City Council vetoing a crematorium coming in four months ago.

7:46 p.m. He says he met with more than 150 residents in the past week. "I was shocked with the percentage of people I have talked to that are opposed."

7:45 p.m. Mark is reading from a petition: "We're concerned about our quality of life." The crematorium is proposed to be added to Lakeside Funeral Home.

7:43 p.m. Public comment: Mark is speaking on behalf of a group of individuals against adding a crematorium to a funeral home.

7:38 p.m. Mayor Donnie Henriques is calling the intern Clark Kent. (He had black-rimmed glasses when he started with the city.)

7:36 p.m. Evans' recommendations as he is leaving his internship: Scale it up! (relating to the survey)

7:32 p.m. Now, honestly, we are just flipping through a bunch of line graphs and pie charts.

7:31 p.m. The least amount of money was going to hotel expenses, equaling $0. Evans says he thinks people just are traveling to Woodstock.

7:30 p.m. Audience dollars were mostly spent for food and drinks at events ($3,744.50). This is just from people who responded from a summer survey.

7:27 p.m. Evans says the summer concert series total attendance for 2010 was 22,000.

7:26 p.m. He breaks down the income levels and local government revenue.

7:26 p.m. Intern Jared Evans says the total attendance in 2009 of the Woodstock arts and culture organizations was 19,935 (done with an online calculator).

7:23 p.m. Uh, oh. The KSU intern is taking on the next agenda item. It's a 45-page presentation on the economic impact of arts and culture.

7:22 p.m. Another reminder: The first summer concert is May 14 with Edwin McCain.

7:19 p.m. Reminder: is going on right now. You can see it this weekend.

7:19 p.m. Elm Street will send in a monthly report with progress numbers. This is to show the economic impact from just moving into the City Center.

7:16 p.m. Litrel says $2 million is going to the new theater section. They are targeting certain donors who would benefit most from the project.

7:14 p.m. Litrel says 70 percent of their funds are coming from donations. They are trying to raise awareness within the community. They do need more money.

7:13 p.m. Litrel explains a survey given about the Elm Street project: 75 percent of the interviewees were in Cherokee, and 79 percent supported the project. There were no negative responses.

7:10 p.m. Ann Litrel is giving an update on the . People moved into the new location in January and are well on their way to 70,000 visits per year

7:08 p.m. The Woodstock City Council has started. The Pledge of Allegiance and prayer have been said, and now two firefighters are being sworn in.