A bill set to go before the Metro Council on first reading tonight would abolish a law that often prohibits bars and restaurants in residential neighborhoods from selling beer.
Laws regulating alcohol sales at neighborhood establishments in Nashville have always seemed a bit puzzling.
Metro, which regulates beer licensing, prohibits restaurants that are within 100 feet of residences from selling beer. Meanwhile, the sale of liquor, governed by the state, is not beholden to any distance restriction.
Different liquor and beer standards have left some restaurants authorized to serve vodka, tequila and even high-alcohol concentrated beer, but not a Bud Light, for example.
District 5 Jamie Hollin, who represents parts of East Nashville, has proposed an ordinance that would end the paradox. Under his bill, as long as restaurant owners are issued a valid alcohol license by the state, they would be exempt from distance requirements for obtaining beer permits.
The introduction of Hollin’s bill comes less than a month after the council exempted Taco Mamacita, a new eatery in the Edgehill neighborhood, from having to abide by the 100-foot distance requirement.
Taco Mamacita’s exemption followed weeks of community meetings in which the area’s representative, District 19 Councilwoman Erica Gilmore, tried to hash out concerns of concerned neighbors and the restaurant’s owners.