By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
September 18, 2013

A new city ordinance will change the requirements for applying for a Sunday retail liquor license.

A number of taverns were unable to apply for the Sunday license due to language in the city code, which required taverns to have annual gross receipts of not less than $150,000 and at least $60,000 had to be in non-alcoholic sales. For places of amusement (businesses that have a square footage of at least 10,000 square feet and annual gross receipts of at least $200,000), gross receipt sales for alcohol could not exceed 50 percent of the annual gross income.

The ordinance, which the Kansas City City Council approved Sept. 12, removes those requirements and simplifies the ordinance language to allow any retail liquor license holder to apply for a Sunday liquor license. Amending the current city ordinance levels the playing field for businesses and aligns with changes that were made to the state statues in August of 2012, said Regulated Industries Manager Jim Ready.

“This is certainly a win for the industry,” said. “There are places in Westport and others, they are taverns and they are unable to have a Sunday retail license (due to current requirements).”

Ready stressed there’s still a safeguard for the neighborhood, which requires businesses seeking a Sunday liquor license to obtain the required consents from surrounding property owners. Once an application is submitted, the business will have 45 days to obtain the required neighborhood consents. If the business fails to obtain the consents, the Sunday liquor license will be denied.