Tuscaloosa Mulls Temporary Moratorium On New Bars, Gastropubs

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Discussions moved forward Tuesday as the Tuscaloosa City Council considers placing a moratorium on new bars and gastropubs, which comes amid serious workforce strains on the Tuscaloosa Police Department.

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The Council's Public Safety Committee discussed the resolution during a special called meeting Tuesday and the first of two public hearings for two recent applicants will be held Tuesday night during the regular council meeting.

According to the resolution, the current workload for TPD has reached a point where its resources are stretched too thin to effectively address public safety issues associated with increased alcohol-based establishments. What's more, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley has said that the required mandatory overtime and long hours for the city's police officers to address these public safety issues have increased the present difficulty to recruit and retain police officers

Ultimately, city leaders believe suspending conditional use applications for bars and gastropubs will provide an opportunity to evaluate the impact of these establishments on the community and consider appropriate regulations to mitigate adverse effects. If passed, the resolution would go into effect immediately and would expire on Jan. 1, 2024, unless otherwise acted upon by the Council.

City Attorney Scott Holmes told the Council the measure would be ready for a vote by June 27, at the earliest.

Issues around public safety and TPD staffing took center stage during the discussions, with Blankley telling Patch that allowing more bars to open around the city simply is not the safe thing to do right now — especially when his department is currently short 32 officers, while faced with issues when it comes to recruitment and retention.

As Patch previously reported during the last budget cycle in 2022, the Tuscaloosa Police Department typically tries to have 290 sworn officers on the payroll at any given time, meaning that, with the present staffing shortages, the department is operating at about 89%.

Staffing shortages results in higher overtime costs, for details like the crucial one along The Strip, and also contributes to burnout and mental fatigue for officers, Blankley said.

This labor shortage is then exacerbated when considering there are a total of 30 bars and eight gastropubs just in the City of Tuscaloosa, according to an examination of city business records by Tuscaloosa Patch.

And, as was pointed out by several during Tuesday's meeting, closing hours and occupancy limits have also raised public safety concerns as of late — namely following the Jan. 15 shooting on Grace Street that left a 23-year-old Birmingham mother dead and two men, including a former University of Alabama basketball player, charged with capital murder.

The fatal shooting prompted city officials to begin to consider new measures as it relates to the operation of gastropubs, which function as a restaurant during the day and a bar at night.

Indeed, both parties involved in the Jan. 15 shooting had been patrons at Twelve25 on The Strip and the large crowd at the business that night was easily noticeable on security camera footage presented as evidence in court.

But for the Tuscaloosa Police Department and city public safety officials, a myriad concerns abound that Blankley said will need to be addressed before any of the problems can be fixed.

For instance, a hypothetical was provided for restaurants looking to operate from late afternoon/early evening hours until 2 a.m.

"That screams 'bar' to us and we need to have some better policies in place to determine what's a restaurant and what's a bar," Blankley said.

Tuesday night, the Council is also set to host the first of two public hearings each for two businesses seeking conditional use approval for a bar/tavern, along with lounge retail liquor licenses.

These businesses are Black Warrior Burgers, LLC for Grandstand at 2209 4th Street and RACK’D UP, LLC for CRU Lounge at 6571 Highway 69 South, Suite A.

Blankley pointed out to members of the Council and reiterated to Tuscaloosa Patch that the city had plenty of bars in the area as Grandstand looks to transition away from a restaurant model to more of a bar model.

"We don't need any more of that down there," he said

Separately, Blankley explained that the proposed bar on Highway 69 South is in a quiet area, which would likely result in parking and traffic concerns, along with increased calls to the southern-most part of the city — again, at a time when staffing is a crucial issue the department and city leaders are working to address.

"We already have a problem, as you just heard," District 4 Councilor Lee Busby said. "And I think going forward for us, we will need to be looking at other measures as well in concert with this."

Among these other potential measures are amended closing times for bars, with Mayor Walt Maddox providing a breakdown of other college towns across the Southeastern Conference's footprint to show how Tuscaloosa compares.

During the week from Monday through Thursday, Tuscaloosa is somewhere in the middle when it comes to hours for SEC college towns, with a 1:45 a.m. closing time for alcohol sales.

For Tuscaloosa, alcohol sales end at 2:45 a.m. on Fridays, 1:45 a.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Still, when compared to Auburn, its bars are allowed to sell alcohol until 2:30 a.m. on Sundays; 2:30 a.m. Monday-Friday and 2 a.m. on Saturdays.

Conversely, Oxford, Mississippi has far and away the most conservative time structures for alcohol sales, with sales ending at midnight Monday-Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sundays.

Knoxville, Tennessee and Nashville represent the two SEC college towns with the latest hours, with each city allowing alcohol sales until 3 a.m., seven days a week.

As part of the resolution being considered by the Tuscaloosa City Council, the city hopes to review and assess its alcohol regulations, including land use regulations being drafted, as part of its code updates stemming from the adoption of the city's comprehensive plan.

With this in mind, city officials believe the suspension of conditional use applications for bars and gastropubs will provide an opportunity to propose amendments to current regulations aimed at improving public safety and reducing the burden of alcohol-based establishments on the Tuscaloosa Police Department.

"I think it's good a move," Council President Kip Tyner said. "I think the moratorium we approved on student apartments turned out well because there was a definite need to pause there, so it sounds good to me."

No action will be taken on the proposed moratorium during Tuesday's regular City Council meeting.

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