[media-credit name=’RAY PFEIFFER/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Alcohol License Review Committee moved one step closer toward approving a resolution Wednesday that would limit the number of licensed establishments in certain areas of downtown Madison.
The resolution, known as the Alcohol License Density Plan, would also lower the patron capacity within current alcohol-licensed establishments.
According to Madison's Alcohol Policy Coordinator Joel Plant, the goal of the proposal is to decrease the overwhelming need for police and other public resources in a single concentrated area, especially on nights and weekends.
"The density of alcohol-related establishments directly affects the occurrence, volume and severity of alcohol-related problems," Plant added.
The plan would additionally reduced the overall number of Class B Combination licenses — the most common type sought by both restaurants and bars — granted from the City Council, he said. The only kind of business that would be granted a new Class B Combination license would be for restaurants or for establishments where food accounts for more than 50 percent of total sales, Plant added.
Plant also noted there should be about one alcohol-licensed establishment for every 500 residents, but in downtown Madison there is one for every 110 residents.
Susan Crowley, director of the Policy, Alternatives, Community Education program at the University of Wisconsin, said the ability of students to acquire alcohol easily is one of the problems associated with binge drinking. The eventual reduction in the number of bars from the city's density plan, she added, would have a positive impact.
"As a community, we have a responsibility to create an environment that does not encourage excessive drinking," she said.
Yet some committee members expressed concerns that the resolution would not allow proper growth or would place too many restrictions on restaurants seeking to join the downtown community.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he is concerned certain new businesses would be denied an alcohol license not because they serve too much alcohol, but because they do not serve enough food. Verveer said in the case of a much-desired movie theater wanting to move downtown, it would not obtain an alcohol license because it does not receive half of its revenue from food.
"I really have a bit of an issue [with parts of the plan]," he added. "I wish it could offer a little bit more accommodation."
Other committee members said they are concerned whether the resolution will work counter-productively to increase the number of area house parties, but Plant maintained the plan is only the first step in the larger reformation of the city's alcohol policies.
The chances, he added, that the Alcohol License Density Plan would improve alcohol consumption conditions downtown are good, since the resolution is based on established facts and scientific research.
According to Plant, 57 to 67 percent of police activity between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. in Madison is alcohol related, and he said reducing the density of bars would eventually lower that percentage.
"I would expect that a minimum of five years would be needed to measure some effect, either positive or negative," he explained. "This is a long range effect; this is not going to be a quick fix."