Most Salt Lakers want to loosen liquor laws; so do 2 candidates

Most Salt Lake City residents want less stringent liquor laws in the city, a new poll shows.

Fifty-six percent of those residents surveyed said they favored changing the laws to make alcohol easier to buy and consume in the city. But city residents who identified themselves as Republicans and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints don't want the City Council or the Legislature to loosen the liquor laws, a Dan Jones & Associates survey for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV shows.

The survey of 403 Salt Lake City registered voters found that 38 percent of those surveyed want liquor laws to remain as they are; 6 percent said they didn't know. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percent.

The finalists in the mayoral race — Democrat Ralph Becker and Republican Dave Buhler — say they want to loosen alcohol laws. But neither candidate is now ready to call for major liquor law reforms — like liquor by the drink.

Most Utah liquor laws are set by the Legislature, and the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control oversees the sales of wines, heavy beers and hard liquor such as vodka and whiskey. Those bottled products are only sold in state-owned and state-run liquor stores. Adults 21 and older can buy 3.2 percent alcoholic beer and some other low-alcohol beverages in grocery stores.

Adults can also consume liquor in state-licensed restaurants and private clubs. The state licenses 3.2 percent beer taverns, which also must have local government approval.

Buhler and Becker say the City Council should change city zoning ordinance to allow more than two alcohol outlets per linear city block. Currently, only two alcohol outlets can be on each block face, on either side of the road. Restaurants with alcohol licenses are not included in this zoning ordinance.

In addition, both men say the city should look at the minimum-distance laws for liquor sales near churches, parks, libraries and schools. That rule is in both state law and city ordinance. "Some charter schools have not been able to locate where they want" because of a nearby liquor outlet, Buhler said. And it makes little sense to stop a restaurant like Red Lobster from locating near a park, he added.

Becker said one liquor outlet "had to do mathematical gymnastics" to open across the street from the downtown Salt Lake City Library. Requiring such gymnastics "is kind of silly."