A city ordinance change approved Monday allows diners to bring their own beer or wine into certain restaurants when they have the owner’s permission. The practice is known as “brown bagging.”
The new ordinance was unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on Monday, and it takes effect Thursday.
It applies to restaurants that have a beer permit or managers with Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission server permits, a city press release said. The ordinance does not allow “brown bagging” in other public places.
“This proposal addresses city staff’s concern over brown bagging occurring in ‘inappropriate’ places such as laundromats, movie theaters, and children-oriented fast-food establishments, while also balancing the desire of some for ‘alcohol-responsible’ restaurants owners to allow brown bagging of wine,” Oak Ridge Senior Staff Attorney Tammy M. Dunn and Police Chief James T. Akagi said in an Oct. 31 memo.
The new ordinance, approved after hours of discussion during the past few months, does not change regulations that apply to businesses with liquor-by-the-drink licenses, which are governed by the state. Customers can not “brown bag” alcoholic drinks at those businesses, the press release said.
It said restaurant owners do not have to allow “brown bagging.” City Council members have said the ordinance could apply, in particular, to Homeland Cafe on Talmeda Road and Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery at Jackson Square.
Enforcement of the new ordinance will start Jan. 1, the press release said.
For more information, contact the Oak Ridge Legal Department at (865) 425-3530 or visit the city website at www.oakridgetn.gov.
Pedro Otaduy says
John, it is a misrepresentation to say that the City “allows” anything related to brown bagging. The right for TN citizens to brown bag is acknowledged by the State of TN. What the City is actually doing is “disallowing” it in general and restricting it to only beer and wine in restaurants.
The State of TN gives the owners and the cities the right to disallow the practice of brown bagging. The mention of “with the owner’s permission” in the new ordinance is thus superfluous.
It was 11 years ago that the City forbade brown bagging to beer permit holders. Restaurants without beer permit were free to allow brown bagging of beer, wine and liquor. This will remain so until Jan 1, 2013, when the new regulation starts.
I did request to the City to eliminate the 11 year old restriction for it was illogical, hurt small businesses, and was counterproductive.
Ms. Dunn in the legal department took it upon herself to forbid brown bagging in spite of the fact that there have been no problems, no complaints and nobody in the City had raised any issue with brown bagging.
As a result, from Jan 1, 2013 on, restaurant customers will not brown bag liquor in the City of Oak Ridge but they will be doing it in Knoxville. This will certainly not help to reduce the deficit of customers between our City and Knoxville. As you know, in spite of the difference in population, many more people from Oak Ridge eat in Knoxville restaurants than vice versa.
The City of Knoxville has practically no restriction, since it forbids brown
bagging only between 1 am and 5 am.
In essence, good that the City eliminated the 11 year old counterproductive restriction but very bad that it added a restriction for liquor and the requirement of server permits when server permits are not required to beer selling places.
Ellen Smith says
There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about this item. The confusion is understandable, as several different proposals for revised ordinances were presented to Council by staff at Council’s October 8, October 22, and November 5 meetings; significant amendments to the proposals were made at the October meetings; and the “substitute ordinance” that Council finally adopted on November 5 was not the same one that was in the City Council agenda package for that meeting. I would not have voted for the ordinance that was in the November 5th agenda package. However, during the day on Monday staff drafted a different proposal that made several changes I had requested and included language I had proposed; the resulting ordinance that we did pass was one that I and other Council members agreed we could support — and that I think should meet the needs of local businesses.
As Pedro notes, the City Council action did not create a new permission. It did eliminate a restriction in the existing city ordinances, but it replaced it with a much broader set of restrictions. Several of us on Council were eager to eliminate the restriction, as it posed an unnecessary burden on a few local restaurants whose patrons like to bring bottles of wine to drink with their meals. However, the police chief and other city staff strongly pushed back against a flat repeal of the old ordinance, because they felt that brownbagging can be and has been a real problem — particularly in taverns where patrons bring in hard liquor, as well as in establishments like laundromats.
Under Tennessee law, “brownbagging” of alcoholic beverages is legal in all businesses unless restricted by municipal ordinance. The old Oak Ridge ordinance banned this practice in businesses with beer permits, but it did not restrict it anywhere else. Council’s action last week removed that particular restriction, but created an entirely different set of rules.
Under the new ordinance, with the owner’s permission, customers may bring wine or beer into a food service establishment (that is, a restaurant) if the restaurant has an on-premises beer permit or if someone in the restaurant’s management has a Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission server permit. If the business has a beer permit, it does not also need a TABC server permit. (This is one of the items that’s confusing. The proposal that was in the Council agenda packet would have required a server permit even if the restaurant had a beer permit, but the ordinance that Council actually passed does not. Pedro is understandably confused about that point.)
The new ordinance goes into effect 10 days after its passage (I calculate that to be November 15), but the new restrictions that it creates will not start to be enforced until January 1, 2013. That means that restaurants that have been allowing or encouraging patrons to bring wine can continue to do so, but after January 1 they will need to have beer permits or TABC server permits if they want to allow people to bring their own wine.
Under the new city ordinance, “brownbagging” is not allowed in any type of business except restaurants and there is no brownbagging of hard liquor.
Pedro Otaduy says
Ellen, thanks a lot for your efforts and for the lengthy clarification here. I only want to add that I was not confused about the server permit requirement. I had read the City’s press release.
Indeed, there will be no need for server permit if the restaurant has a beer license, which makes sense and it is consistent with my final sentence ” … and the requirement of server permits when server permits are not required to beer selling places” since to sell beer anywhere a permit is needed.
It is odd that server training is not required in a sports bar where the owners make more money the more beer they sell but with this new ordinance server training is required in restaurants that do not sell beer and do not make money from the beer or wine the customer brings.
Anyway, Ellen, had it not been for your clear mind and stamina resisting the City Staff persistent railroading, the end result would have been significantly worse. I am so sad that you were not reelected. Please come back, the City needs you.