HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-07-16, Public Comment, J. & L. Mugaas,Tap RoomDear City Commissioners and School Board Trustees,
Lynn and I should begin by letting the School Board Trustees know that we have previously
written separate emails to the City Commissioners expressing our opposition to granting a full
liquor license to the Taproom—a beer and wine bar that is illegally situated across Rouse Ave.
from Hawthorne School. The full liquor license would allow them to serve hard liquor and
become a full-fledged saloon.
To begin with, the mere existence of the Taproom at its site across from Hawthorne School is a
travesty of justice and violates the intent and spirit of the Montana Law, as well as the Law itself,
that regulates the placement of such businesses. . . “16-3-306. Proximity to churches and
schools restricted. (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) through (4), a retail
license may not be issued pursuant to this code to any business or enterprise whose
premises are within 600 feet of and on the same street as a building used exclusively
as a church, synagogue, or other place of worship or as a school other than a
commercially operated or postsecondary school. This distance must be measured in
a straight line from the center of the nearest entrance of the place of worship or
school to the nearest entrance of the licensee's premises. This section is a limitation
upon the department's licensing authority.”
The Taproom owners have attempted to circumvent this law by changing their
address from Rouse Ave. to Mendenhall street, and pretend they are not located on
the same street as Hawthorne School. What is sad about this scheme, is that the City
Commission went along with it rather than base their decision on the Law, as well as
the intent and spirit of the Law. As you can see the Law does not say anything about
the address of the business; it only talks about measuring from the center of the
nearest entrance of the place of worship or school to the nearest entrance of the
licensee’s premises. The Taproom occupies the Northwest corner of Rouse and
Mendenhall. The east wall of the Taproom borders Rouse and shares that part of the
street with Hawthorne School. Therefore the Taproom is on the same street as
Hawthorne School. There is a door into the Taproom through its east facing wall,
and, as far as I can see, that is the nearest door to the school’s nearest Rouse
entrance. The straight line distance from that door, to the school’s nearest Rouse
entrance, as measured using Google Earth, is about 200 ft. If you measure the
straight line distance from the Taproom’s Mendenhall door, to that same school
door, the distance is about 250 ft. It is obvious, the Taproom is located on both
Rouse and Mendenhall, and because its Rouse location is shared with Hawthorne
School, it is in violation of the State Law cited in the paragraph above. Based on
these facts the City Commission should have refused the Taproom’s initial
application for the beer and wine license.
Furthermore, if you go to the City’s Website you will find the following under City
Planning.
Why Bozeman Plans:
The Planning Division of Community Development is primarily responsible for furthering the
goals of the Bozeman Community Plans and maintaining the Bozeman Municipal Code in order
to:
Promote public health and safety
Create a functional community that is beautiful, healthful and efficient
Balance the desires of the City Commission, Developers and Individuals in the
Community
Support economic development
The first bullet, which is presumably the most important, is to promote public health and safety.
The City Commission, in granting their initial beer and wine license to the Taproom, clearly did
not take into consideration the health and safety of our most vulnerable citizens, the children
that attend Hawthorne School. Instead they apparently focused entirely on the last bulleted item,
“Support economic development.” So we are left with an ugly precedent being set that would
allow other bars to locate closer than the law allows to other public schools and/or places of
worship. In reality, and in accordance to the Law, the place should not be allowed to sell any
kind of alcohol. We would support such an action, but we’ve been told that no one on the
present City Commission has the stomach for such a solution, because they do not believe
there is a problem.
And now the owners of the Taproom want a full liquor license so their customers can have a
“beer and a bump” rather than just a beer, or a cocktail rather than just a glass of wine. And if
you go to their website you will find they have already listed cocktails as an item for sale, so
they are undoubtedly anticipating a victory. Of course all of that will probably increase their
customer base, thus exacerbating the problem for Hawthorne students by creating more traffic
of a potentially unsavory type in full view of, and in close proximity to the school. But, it will also
put more money into the owner’s pockets, which appears to be most important to the City
Commission. We think this is intolerable, especially when the health and safety of our children
are at stake.
We strongly urge the City Commission to vote NO to the full liquor license. Please don’t do
anything to make matters worse. We also strongly urge the School Board to get behind the
students of Hawthorne and voice very strong opposition to the granting of a full liquor license to
the Taproom. We also want the School Board to support any measures to mitigate the damage
already done, such as insisting that the Taproom not be allowed to be open for business during
the time each day that Hawthorne School is in session.
Sincerely yours,
John N. Mugaas and Leslie L. Mugaas
Grandparents of two children that attend Hawthorne School
414 Meagher Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59718-6231
jnmugaas@gmail.com
llmugaas@gmail.com
406 404 1028 Land line
304 445 6648 John’s Cell
304 667 6191 Leslie’s Cell
Bozeman City Commission agenda@bozeman.net
Bozeman School Board of Trustees trustees@bsd7.org