15-02-2025
JC Commission asks for state legislation that would allow alcohol sale hours change
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Despite opposition from business owners, the Johnson City Commission passed a resolution Thursday night supporting state legislation that could limit the hours alcohol is sold in city limits.
The resolution supported 'Tennessee Legislation authorizing Johnson City to regulate hours of sales for alcoholic beverages,' according to the commission's agenda. The resolution does not grant the commission the ability to regulate alcohol sale hours; instead, it voices support for a law to be passed on the state level that would allow the city to do so.
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Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution. Johnson City Vice Mayor Greg Cox emphasized Thursday night that he voted in favor of it with the idea of engaging in more public discussion on the matter and having the option available but not necessarily put to use.
'Just for clarification for discussion, I think it's important to look at all the tools in the toolbox we could have,' Cox said on Thursday. 'I've gotten a lot of feedback from the city on both perspectives.'
Several members of the public spoke at the start of the meeting to voice their disapproval of the resolution, including Capone's owner Thomas Breese. He said as the owner of a downtown Johnson City bar, he was concerned about the resolution 'that seemingly popped out of nowhere.'
'Although it does not explicitly state this, it is my understanding that the ultimate goal is to limit on-premise alcohol sales to 1 a.m. This path can, as I see it, go two directions, neither of which is good.'
Breese said if alcohol sale times were capped at 1 a.m., it could cause the hours of bars and entertainment venues to shift their hours and upset the balance of different crowds downtown. He said parking would become more of an issue if the dinner crowds and late-night crowds overlapped with less time until alcohol sales stopped.
According to Breese, the second option he foresaw was worse than the former.
'The late-night business could dry up and wither altogether,' Breese said. 'Downtown hosts thousands of guests every weekend, much more than the stated 2% of Johnson City residents referenced in the resolution. These guests do spend money downtown, but more than that, they spend all over Johnson City, and many of them travel here from surrounding areas just for the nightlife.'
When the commission reached its discussion of the resolution, Johnson City City Manager Cathy Ball said she hoped to clarify some information that may have been misunderstood.
Using a presentation, Ball first read Tennessee's current state law that allows beer sales until 12 a.m. and allows sales of liquor by the drink until 3 a.m. A business with a liquor-by-the-drink permit can sell beer at any time that it can sell liquor. Tennessee law does not allow municipalities, such as Johnson City, to be more restrictive than what is allowed by the state.
'What we're asking is consideration of our General Assembly to allow the City of Johnson City to regulate the hours of alcohol sales within the City of Johnson City,' Ball said. 'So all that we're saying to them is we would like the ability for the city commission to be able to establish the hours that alcohol is sold within the City of Johnson City.'
Ball told the commission that research and data are available and said the resolution was proposed with the public's safety in mind.
'The biggest reason is it's based on safety and the wellbeing of the community,' she said.
A slide from Ball's presentation showed the time at which police responded to incidents in the downtown area broken down by hour. According to the slide, which used data from January 2019 through September 2024, the hours that saw the most reports of violent crimes, weapon and drug offenses and DUIs were 1-4 a.m.
Ball also showed a heat map of where police responded to incidents during those hours. The map showed that most of the activity occurred in the bar area downtown.
A comparison of the downtown district to North Roan Street, which Ball noted also has bars, showed a much smaller number of incidents between 1-4 a.m.
A slide of the presentation stated that the downtown district is home to 2.3% of the city's population and represents 1.4% of the total acreage of the land within the city limits. Ball told the commission that on an average Saturday, 58% of on-duty police officers are assigned to the downtown district.
'What this demonstrates to us is we're not distributing our resources of police officers across the whole city and to all of our community in an even way,' Ball said. 'So if there is a crime that happens in Gray, if there's a crime that happens in South Johnson City, then we're not able to respond as quickly as we would like to.'
Regarding the cost, Ball said providing such police resources downtown on the weekends is significant. In answer to a question from Johnson City Vice Mayor Greg Cox, Ball said a busy weekend could cost the city $7,000-$8,000 to patrol with police properly.
Ball reiterated that passing the resolution would not make it law or cause any immediate change.
'There are a lot of other steps that have to happen in order for this to become a law and a lot of other opportunities, that I think Commissioner [Jenny] Brock brought out, for there to be community input on this,' Ball said.
Ball also stated that the resolution does not target a specific geographic area, as it would impact all businesses serving alcohol – not just those downtown. The resolution also does not require businesses to close at a different time.
She closed her presentation on Thursday night by saying that the ultimate goal of the resolution and any potential legislation that could follow is to create a safe and thriving community.
Ball answered Commissioner Jenny Brock's question of whether the resolution would be sent to legislators in Nashville by saying yes and that a bill had already been filed. According to Ball, lawmakers were waiting to see if the commission supported the bill before moving forward.
Johnson City Mayor John Hunter said that, in his opinion, Tennessee has a 'fairly liberal last call of 3 a.m.' compared to surrounding states with a cutoff of 2 a.m., midnight or 11:45 p.m.
Hunter asked Ball if she had an economic impact report available to inform city leaders what changing the alcohol sale hours would mean. Ball told him she did not have that information at the time, but the city would be required to evaluate the impact if the legislation were passed.
Ball confirmed to Hunter that if the legislation were passed, the commission would not be required to restrict the alcohol sale hours, but it would be available as a tool.
The resolution does not specify a time that Johnson City would consider halting alcohol sales. Ball guessed that the assumption of 1 a.m. by members of the public came from the data included in the presentation.
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