Loudon examines beer ordinance

Loudon City Council discussed Monday in a workshop the beer permit for the LoCo Drive-In movie theater.

Ty Ross, city manager, brought the matter before council near the end of the meeting.

“I would like to make the council aware of a pending issue with the beer board, and it concerns an application for a permit at the LoCo Drive-In that we’re all anticipating,” Ross said. “The issue with the beer board is our beer ordinance, as written, the framework of a club or restaurant or a golf course could be read to not line up precisely with a drive-in theater.

“An idea that we’re exploring is to possibly, with the council’s vote of confidence, to pass a temporary permit, which would allow this council time to amend the beer ordinance to allow a drive-in movie theater to better fit the framework,” he added.

Ross requested feedback from council on the temporary permit proposal. He wants to get back to the Loudon County Beer Board before its 4 p.m. meeting today.

Loudon Mayor Jeff Harris asked Ross if the issue was the “automobile aspect” of the theater.

Ross said that is one of the problems. Harris mentioned measures put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages to go.

Councilman Johnny James said he wouldn’t be comfortable with people bringing in their own alcohol.

Ross reassured James the permit is for concession stand sales at the theater and not for customers to bring their own beverages.

Harris speculated the permit might be mostly geared toward sporting events like football games that will be played at the drive-in.

“There are several aspects of the ordinance that need to be looked at while we’re going through this process,” Kris Frye, city attorney, said. “The last overhaul was in 2005. Some of the language that was used is a little outdated, and there are several other things in the modern society that weren’t acceptable even 15 years ago but now are much more commonplace. In pretty much every movie theater in Knoxville, you can buy alcohol. That was just never contemplated in 2005 that beer would ever be sold anywhere other than a restaurant or golf course or private club.”

Frye said adaptation is important for the city, adding timeliness is key since the theater is targeted to open early July.

“Right now, the beer board’s decisions are final and only appealable to a judge under an arbitrary or capricious standard,” Frye said. “We’d like to add more flexibility to that as well.”

Harris clarified that Frye and Ross are looking for a “temporary OK” to pass on to the beer board. Ross described the measure as a compromise by granting a temporary permit while council works on an amendment to the ordinance.

“The goal would be to be back here in July with a draft ordinance that would then take effect at the end of August once we got all council’s feedback on that,” Frye said.

Council agreed to give the beer board a go-ahead on the temporary permit.