By Michael Prochaska
Staff Writer
 
Beginning this weekend, Madison residents can now drink their choice of beer, wine or other alcoholic drinks seven days a week.
Sunday package sales passed with a margin of 229 votes, while pouring sales passed with a margin of 307 votes July 31, but the city’s alcohol ordinance needed to reflect the changes before the new law went into effect, city attorney Joe Reitman said.

According to the new ordinance, which was adopted Monday at a city council meeting, alcohol may be served between the hours of 12:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sunday. An exception is given to December 31, in which case it is up to the discretion of the retailer to extend the license to 1 a.m.

Reitman said several other changes were made to the ordinance, which includes a reduction in the cost of beer and wine licensing and a 30-day notice for a pouring license for private events.

In related news, an alcohol license was granted to the Pilot Travel Center on 1881 Eatonton Road.

The council also voted on updates to the Sunshine Law Amendment of its City Code, which outlines regulations of transparency and open records.

Among the changes, copying fees are now 10 cents a page. If the cost of producing records is more than $500, the city requires prepayment before the search and retrieval of such records. The council agreed to post its agenda “generally” one week in advance to the meeting, though volunteer boards such as the Greenspace Commission have more flexibility in posting records.

Councilman Michael Naples made a motion to extend the memorandum on the city’s guidelines for Planned Residential Districts (PRD) until the end of October to make future changes on the ordinance

“I think one of the great fears of some of the people in the historic preservation overlay district is that PRDs could come in, and we could lose that single family situation that we have,” he said, referring to the nature of PRDs as promoting housing types other than single family. The moratorium halts any developments or proposals for another two-and-a-half months.

In other business, the council agreed to award sludge hauling and disposal services to Allied Environmental Services, which will save the city “a considerable amount of labor,” said City Manager David Nunn.

During a manager’s report, Nunn said the city is preparing to demolish several structures on West Washington Street, including the “Blue House,” and the defunct dry cleaners across from Pennington Seed.

Printed in the August 16, 2012 edition