ORDINANCE NO. 260250
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Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Amending Chapter 10, Code of Ordinances, Alcoholic Beverages, enacting a new sections 10-216 and 10-336 for the purpose of designating certain geographic areas within the City experiencing acute detrimental public safety and public health impacts from the retail package sale of alcohol as “Retail Alcohol Impact Areas” and placing certain conditions on retail package licenses within such designated areas.
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WHEREAS, the City has received numerous reports from residents, neighborhood associations, public safety partners, and City personnel, and the Kansas City Police Department concerning recurring public safety and public health concerns in specific corridors; and
WHEREAS, the sale of alcoholic beverages can present a unique risk the quality and character of neighborhoods and collective public safety; and
WHEREAS, research shows that when concentrated in specific areas, retail practices like selling cheap, single serve high alcohol content products can unintentionally contribute to unsafe and unstable neighborhood conditions, including but not limited to increased crime, including violent crime, increased and/or repeated calls for police and emergency services, increased loitering, public intoxication, public disorder, and higher levels of litter; and
WHEREAS, the Multidisciplinary Public Safety Task Force routinely recommends that retailers in impacted areas refrain from such sales to reduce nuisance activity, and public safety and disorder concerns; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of a retail alcohol impact area plan is to provide the City with an additional tool to mitigate problems with neighborhood stability, public safety, chronic public inebriation, and illegal activities linked to the sale or consumption of alcohol within a geographic area; and
WHEREAS, research shows that alcohol-related nuisance and disorder often extend into adjacent blocks near retail package outlets, and studies on alcohol outlet density demonstrate that these impacts frequently affect the surrounding street network, making it necessary for the City Council to define retail alcohol impact areas broadly enough to prevent displacement into immediately adjoining areas; and
WHEREAS, City Council finds that restricting the retail package sale of certain alcohol products within narrowly tailored geographic areas, while leaving undisturbed the operation of restaurants, taverns, and other on-premises establishments, is a reasonable and necessary measure to promote public safety, public health, and neighborhood stability; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. That Chapter 10, Code of Ordinances, is hereby amended by enacting a new Section 10-216, Alcohol impact areas, and Section 10-336, Restrictions on package sales licenses within an alcohol impact area, to read as follows:
Sec. 10-216. Retail alcohol impact areas.
(a) A retail alcohol impact area is a geographic area located wholly within the City that is adversely affected by chronic inebriation and/or or illegal activity correlated with liquor sales or consumption. The following areas located within the City shall be hereby designated as retail alcohol impact areas:
(1) Blue Ridge corridor means the geographic area bounded by 83rd Street on the north, 119th Street on the south, Newton Avenue, Bennington Avenue, and Hickman Mills Drive on the west, and James A Reed Road, Eastern Avenue, and Food Lane on the east, including all parcels, businesses, and premises located within or abutting these boundaries, but excluding any areas outside the City Limits of Kansas City.
(2) Central Business District Corridor means the geographical area bounded by the Missouri River on the north, the 18th Street on the south, Interstates 35 and 29, Interstate 70 and Bruce R Watkins Drive on the east and Broadway on the west, including all parcels, businesses, and premises abutting or located within one block of these boundaries.
(3) Independence Avenue Corridor means the geographical area bounded by that portion of Scarritt Avenue east of Benton Boulevard, inclusive of that portion that is known as Gladstone Blvd, and that portion of St. John Avenue west of Chestnut Trafficway on the north, East 18th Street on the south, Forest Avenue on the west, and Interstate 435 on the east, including all parcels, businesses, and premises located within or abutting these boundaries.
(4) Midtown Corridor means the geographical area bounded by 27th Street on the north, 47th Street/Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard on the South, the city limits of Kansas City, Missouri on the west, and Troost Avenue on the east, including all parcels, businesses and premises located within or abutting these boundaries that are located within the City of Kansas City.
(5) Prospect Avenue-Southeast Corridor means the geographical area bounded by 23rd Street on the north, Interstate 435 on the south, that portion of The Paseo and Lydia Avenue between 49th and 59th Street on the west, and Jackson Avenue on the east, including all parcels, businesses, and premises located within or abutting these boundaries.
(b) The Director of the Multidisciplinary Public Safety Task Force or the Director of Neighborhood Services may periodically make recommendations to City Council regarding the modification of retail alcohol impact areas, creation of new retail alcohol impact areas, or elimination of retail alcohol impact areas as they deem appropriate to promote public safety, public health, and neighborhood stability.
(c) The Director of Neighborhood Services shall review the established retail alcohol impact areas every three years to evaluate the impact on public safety, public health, and neighborhood stability. The review shall include an analysis of the current level of criminal activity in and surrounding each retail alcohol impact area. The Director of Neighborhood Services shall report to the City Manager and council as to the findings of their review.
Sec. 10-336. Restrictions on package sales licenses within a retail alcohol impact area.
(a) For the purposes of this section, an “retail alcohol impact area” shall refer to those areas defined as retail alcohol impact areas in section 10-216 of this Code. Retail package licenses located within areas defined as alcohol impact areas shall be subject to the restrictions of this section sixty (60) days after the effective date of an ordinance designating a geographic area as an alcohol impact area, as further described in section 10-216.
(b) Any business or person operating pursuant to a retail package license for a premises wholly located within a retail alcohol impact area as defined in section 10-216, shall not:
(1) Sell give, offer, expose for sale, or deliver
i. Any distilled spirits packaged in individual containers of 200 milliliters (6.8 fluid ounces) or less and with an alcohol content of 35 percent by volume or more, including but not limited to half-pints, miniatures, nips, shooters, and airplane bottles; or
ii. Any malt beverage packaged in individual containers of 40 ounces or less.
(2) Divide a manufacturer’s multi-container package of distilled spirits or malt beverage to sell, give, or offer, or deliver an individual container when that individual container would otherwise be prohibited under subsection (1).
(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the restrictions of this section shall not apply to a retail package license for premises operating as a grocery store as defined in section 10-1 of the Code.
(d) Penalties. Any person or business violating the prohibitions of subsection (b) above shall be subject to the penalties generally applicable to violations of this chapter, as provided in Section 10-40 of the Code, and such violation may be grounds for the suspension or revocation of a license as provided in sections 10-36 and 10-62 of the Code.
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Approved as to form:
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Andrew Bonkowski
Assistant City Attorney