The Good Hope City Council (Nick Griffin for The Tribune)
GOOD HOPE – The Good Hope City Council Monday night approved a change to the City’s alcohol sales ordinance.
In a move that the City hopes will attract new businesses, the council approved Ordinance no. 012-2018, which makes amendments to Ordinance no. 003-2012, changing the minimum distance from a church or school where alcohol can be sold. The council believes the change will help spur economic development down County Road 437 east of Interstate 65, without impacting the city on the west side of I-65.
Subsection two of the new ordinance reads as follows, “Subject to exceptions contained in this section, no facility or property shall be authorized for on-premises sale or off-premises sale of alcoholic beverages where the building in which the premises are located is less than seven hundred (700) feet from any building in which there is a church, public or private elementary, intermediate or junior high, high school or child development facility.” The original minimum distance was 1,200 feet.
The new ordinance also changes section D of the original ordinance, stating that “Where the City licensed premises is authorized for only on-premises sale of alcoholic beverages, the minimum distance between the licensed premises and a church is four hundred (400) feet.” That’s a change from the original distance of 650 feet.
The council also approved a $5,000 donation to the Good Hope High School band. The money will come from the City’s alcohol tax fund and will be used to repair or replace any worn equipment, uniforms, etc. that the band wants to address.
A new water drainage project was also approved. Mayor Jerry Bartlett described the issue as a water retention problem on a portion of Day Gap Road. The early estimate the council has received is $40,000 for the materials and labor needed for the project. Bartlett described the flooded area in more detail and elaborated on the solution.
“When it rains, it floods a couple of yards over there and then it goes across the road and floods into that property. It’s a very low area and the cheapest way to fix it would be to build a pond area that catches the water and lets it flow out slowly so that it doesn’t wash our road away,” Bartlett said. “Three, four or five days after a rain you can just see water holding everywhere and we really didn’t think it was a good idea to put the retention ponds in a residential area where there are going to be kids playing. So, it’s going to take a little bit more of a sophisticated system where we use big pipes, and they have to be run at a lot of different angles and we’ll have to clear trees. We’ve got to catch the water in two or three different areas, let it go in these grates and then run out slowly so that kids who are playing wouldn’t have any problems with it. It’s going to solve a problem that we’ve had there for several years.”
The Good Hope City Council will hold its next meeting Monday, Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Good Hope City Hall.
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