North Logan may ease liquor rules

LOGAN (AP) — North Logan is considering allowing an unlimited number of restaurants to obtain liquor licenses while also prohibiting future convenience stores from selling beer in a compromise designed to encourage more restaurants to locate there.

"We want to encourage high-quality restaurants in our town," North Logan Mayor Cary Watkins said. "In that, we're going to unlimit the amount of licenses to be issued to restaurants for on-site sale of beer and alcohol products."

The North Logan City Council approved a law a little more than a year ago that allows three restaurants to each have a liquor license. On Thursday, the council will take input on a proposal to end that limit.

Watkins said he couldn't go into specifics about any future developments but indicated there are restaurants that would like to build in North Logan to cash in on the business growth of Utah State University's Innovation Campus and the new Qwest Communications call center.

He said it would be wise for the city to have its laws in place to welcome those restaurants.

Watkins contends the proposed change to the liquor ordinance would actually tighten liquor laws in the city. Along with taking away a limit from restaurants obtaining liquor licenses, the proposal prohibits businesses such as convenience stores from being able to sell beer.

The two convenience stores in North Logan already selling beer would not lose their licenses, however.

"Were introducing a revision to the ordinance to further restrict the sale of alcohol," Watkins said. "Any facility of less than 10,000 square feet and any future stores would not be licensed to sell beer."

The proposed ordinance is designed to allow the sale of beer in grocery stores.

The proposal will likely meet opposition from Councilman Mark Williams.

During last year's alcohol debates, Williams said he would never vote in favor of anything that increases the amount of alcohol in town. Williams, who made his opposition to alcohol a key part of his 2004 campaign, said Thursday that when he heard alcohol would be an agenda item for the councils May 4 meeting, he told City Administrator Jeff Jorgensen he "didn't want to talk about it."