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Council compromises with Bridge
Pending April 6 final approval, bar can sell alcohol after 10 p.m.
If the proposed ordinance becomes law at the April 6 City Council meeting and public hearing, alcohol can be served until 11 p.m. weekdays and until midnight on Friday and Saturday - but only until Aug. 31 when the new law will sunset in a move the council called "a compromise trial." Council agreed to the temporary extension of hours at the most recent executive and general council meetings, and the discussion involved a near-record number of attendees who showed up to speak for or against the ordinance change. The extension was requested by owners of The Bridge bar, located at the foot of the Pensacola Bay Bridge and one of the first businesses motorists encounter coming off the bridge from Pensacola. The bar has been open two months and serves only beer and wine. Owners Nick and Scott Wheatley and partner Nick Bodkins expressed gratitude over being a part of the community but also expressed concern that so many community customers have been sent away after 10 p.m. "This ordinance was passed even before any alcohol sales were allowed in the county - while we were still a dry county," Mayor Lane Gilchrist explained. "But evidently city council members who passed the original ordinance years ago knew that some day the county would probably go wet, so they passed an ordinance in advance because they had a certain vision for the City of Gulf Breeze. They feared a lot of bars and other establishments serving alcohol would start locating in the City. They wanted to keep Gulf Breeze a family oriented City." Gilchrist said there are only two locations in the City right now that would benefit from a change in the ordinance to sell alcohol later than 10 p.m., one of them being The Bridge. "All the communities around us do allow alcohol sales in restaurants or bars later than we do," he said. "Milton allows sales until midnight. Okaloosa County and Santa Rosa County ordinances allow sales until 2:30 a.m., and Pensacola allows sales until 3 a.m" Bodkins told the council the owners decided to open in hopes that after they showed the City Council how responsible they are, the council might change the ordinance. "We figured if we showed the city what we had in mind that someday we could be allowed to extend our hours," he said. "Our customers' average age is 45. At least 70 percent of our clientele live in Gulf Breeze. We are at capacity every night at closing time, and we have to apologize every night when we have to ask people to leave. Everyone is asking when we will get this changed." The bar has a capacity of 50 customers at a time. The owners reported that there had been zero police responses to the business since it opened. "We know what a responsible vendor does, and we have proven we will do what we say over the entire past year that we have been working with the city council on this project," Nick Wheatley said. "We are selfpolicing on our noise output and stay well within city guidelines. We have been very involved as good citizens and business owners. The question today is: What is the relevance of this ordinance?" Three citizens spoke against the extension at the executive session, and one did so at the general council meeting. One woman said she had been a bartender herself for several years, was well known by people in the city, and had a sister who had been disabled by a drunk driver. She opposed the extension. "I have been serving alcohol longer than these boys have been allowed to drink it," Julie Lattrell said. "If you are 45 years old and have kids, then you should be home at 10 p.m. anyway." Bill Bullet also said he is against the extension for this bar especially because of the location. "It is difficult enough to get in and out of the hotel there, or the bar, or other businesses at the foot of that bridge. But add alcohol to the mix, with people coming across the bridge on their way home, and it is too dangerous late at night," he said. Several people who live near the bar or are customers spoke in favor of the extension. Ted Mulray said he has been a customer there and thinks the extension should be granted. "I don't like to call this place a bar. It is a gathering place," he said. "It is very upscale. We can drive over to Pensacola Beach to meet friends, but now we have our own place in Gulf Breeze that is a decent place to meet friends." Gulf Breeze residents Jim Doyle and Robin Raney praised the location and the clientele of the bar. "This is a great location and a great idea," praised Raney. "I just hope they get the chance to expand their hours and their bar." Doyle quipped wryly that he believed Gulf Breeze "is the only place in the world where you can have a bar open and require it to close at 10 p.m." Councilman J. B. Schluter said as a businessman he knows the 10 p.m. deadline isn't fair, but as a parent and resident of the city he is concerned about later alcohol sales, with drivers behind the wheel. Entrepreneur T.J. Waggoner called for change. "If we don't look at change, it could lead to failure," he said. "I want to see my city be proentrepreneurial. I myself am an entrepreneur, and I want to see Gulf Breeze grow in positive ways." Councilman Joe Henderson voted against the ordinance, saying that he was against how restrictive it was. "The city manager has shown us that the rest of the area's bars and the restaurants already serve long past 10 p.m.," Henderson said. "I don't believe we should restrict business in this way, and I definitely don't agree with sunsetting an ordinance." When the ordinance sunsets on Aug. 31, council can then go back to the 10 p.m. sales cut-off, keep the extension, or decide to allow even later sales. |
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