The regulations concerning alcoholic beverages in Porterdale have changed dramatically in the past week as businesses will now have extended time to sell beer and wine by the glass.
Citizens of Porterdale voted last Tuesday to pass a resolution that allowed for restaurants to sell beer and wine by the glass on Sundays.
During Monday's Porterdale City Council meeting, the council voted three to two to extend the hours a restaurant can serve alcohol on Friday and Saturday evenings to 1:45 a.m. the following morning. Council Post 3 Perry Barnett and Council Post 5 Kay Piper voted against the ordinance.
Previously, beer and wine could only be sold at restaurants until midnight Monday through Saturday. The midnight deadline will stay in effect Monday through Thursday.
As part of the new ordinance, restaurants must have the alcoholic beverages cleared off tables by 2:15 a.m. Saturday and Sunday mornings. Businesses are also prohibited from selling alcohol on Thanksgiving or Christmas. The new ordinance will go into effect five days after passage.
The council also voted four to one to hold a referendum on Feb. 5 to determine if Porterdale businesses will be allowed to sale distilled spirits by the drink. Piper was the lone disinter on the vote.
The Porterdale City Council meeting included the following.
Senator John Douglas presented Porterdale Mayor Bobby Hamby with a check for $20,000 to go towards the remodeling of the Porterdale gym. The money was just a fraction of the more than $3 million needed to remodel the building, but Douglas said he would try his best to secure an additional $2 million during the next session of the legislature. Hamby said the council will most likely use the $20,000 to secure an architect for the project.
The Friends of Porterdale announced they have raised more than $6,000 through sales to go toward the remodeling of the gym.
The Friends of Porterdale will also donate dugouts for the baseball field near Crowell Road. Council Post 4 Mike Harper said he believed the dugout should be made of chain link fence instead of cinder blocks to ensure children could not hide inside them at night.
Hamby announced the Georgia Department of Transportation had again postponed the installation of a red light at the intersection of Crowell Road and Ga. Highway 81. According to Hamby, the project has been delayed three times from July 2007 to July 2008 and now to June 2009.
