AR: Fayetteville boosts bars’ requirements
By Stacy Ryburn
June 18, 2018
FAYETTEVILLE — Anyone who wants to open a bar serving liquor in Fayetteville needs to take eight hours of security training, learn how to spot a fake ID and install surveillance cameras, along with the usual state requirements.
What most people think of as a bar in Arkansas — an establishment serving beer, wine and mixed drinks that stays open until 2 a.m. — is legally considered a private club. There are 42 private-club permits active in the city.
The basic permitting process for a private-club applicant has been in place since 1969 with a few slight changes, according to Scott Hardin, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. The permit requires having a stated purpose other than drinking, at least 100 registered members and an associated nonprofit corporation.
It’s an archaic process, said Fayetteville lawyer Kenneth Mourton. Someone who wants to open a drinking establishment in a wet county, such as Washington County, essentially has three options, he said.
He could open a beer bar. Those have to close at 1 a.m., per city code.
He could open a restaurant and get a mixed-drink license. Most of the revenue has to come from food sales, and the place has to have a full kitchen. Most prospective bar owners don’t want to go through that, Mourton said. The license also covers hotels and motels.
The third option is a private club. A change in state law that took effect in August requires a private-club applicant to get approval from the local governing body before submitting paperwork to the state for a liquor license.
Since then, the Fayetteville City Council has approved four private-club applications: The Vault at the EJ Ball Building, VIP Club on West Avenue, Prairie St. Bar & Tap in the Mill District and Roost Motor Club coming to the former Restaurant on the Corner on Arkansas 112.
The city adopted its own ordinance in March to reflect the change in state law about private-club permits. The ordinance lets prospective permit holders submit applications to the city online and defers handling the applications to the Police Department.
The idea is that by the time the City Council puts eyes on the application, the applicant and Police Department will have worked out all the details. Once the application gains approval, it can go to the state. The city will record the license once it gains state approval.
Additionally, private clubs and hotels, motels and restaurants used to have to wait until 10 a.m. before serving alcohol. A May 1 Fayetteville ordinance changed the time to 7 a.m.
The city’s policies have evolved as applications come in. Police Chief Greg Tabor said the department saw the change in law as an opportunity to temper some heavy-handed or violent activity that officers had seen downtown. For instance, 22-year-old Trenton Coney was shot to death on New Year’s Eve.
Police originally envisioned having bouncers become licensed private security guards, but only employees working for security firms can get such a license.