During its December meeting, the Commission announced it will initiate administrative rulemaking to amend current rules as they relate to the designation of alcohol impact areas. In conjunction with this process, the agency will convene an advisory committee to review existing rules and formulate recommendations for possible modifications. The first meeting of the advisory committee is scheduled for January 23, 2003.

The purpose of designating an alcohol impact area ostensibly has been to afford the Commission the ability to address certain areas experiencing serious alcohol related problems, street drinking, public intoxication, and noisy conduct. In their current form, however, the rules are somewhat restrictive in nature, applying to incorporated cities with a population over 300,000. In accordance with existing rules, prior to designating an alcohol impact area, it must receive a petition from an authorized representative of an incorporated city with a population in excess of the 300,000 threshold. Existing rules further delineated a number of actions a city must take before petitioning the Commission for the designation of an alcohol impact area.

In conjunction with the designation of an alcohol impact area, existing rules provide the Commission the authority to limit off-premise sale, limit the hours of alcohol sales or establish any other limitations or restrictions that may reduce documented alcohol related problems. In essence, following the designation of an alcohol impact area, the Commission is afforded an extremely broad range of restrictions to address alcohol related problems.

Although preliminary in nature, it is expected efforts will be made to expand the application of current rules to other cities throughout the state, as well as to ease requirements such cities must meet prior to petitioning the Commission for the designation of an alcohol impact area.

ONSA will continue to monitor the rulemaking process and will alert members regarding future opportunities to comment. This issue may become critical, especially if you believe you may have a location that could be targeted as a “problem area,” making your license subject to restrictions even though you have had no previous violations or compliance problems.