The Kenai Peninsula Borough will now measure distances from liquor licensed establishments to schools the same way as the state.
Assembly Member Dale Bagley’s original ordinance would have changed the current 500 foot buffer to 300 feet, but after hours of discussion, an amendment cancelled that section. Borough Chief of Staff Paul Ostrander detailed what the assembly approved.
Ostrander: “Now the way that they measure that mirrors state statutes so it’s still a 500 foot distance but instead of the previous way that the borough used to measure it which was a straight line distance, the distance is now measured in the same way that the state measures those distances. They take the distance from the door of the alcohol establishment and they take the closest pedestrian path from that location, and in the case of the school, to the property boundary of the school.”
Before the ordinance was amended, Assembly Member Brent Johnson brought an empty beer bottle and used it to read the government’s label warning that details the dangers of alcohol consumption. He voted no, saying he does not see how decreasing the buffer is of benefit to anyone.
State laws only require a distance of 200 feet. Assemblyman Wayne Ogle also said he did not support decreasing the distance, saying he does not support continuing the trend of lessening community standards.
Public testimony was mostly opposed to decreasing the distances between premises that sell alcohol and educational establishments, but some supported the 300 feet requirement, saying the difference really doesn’t “protect” students from alcohol.
In response to the push-back of lessening the required distances between liquor licensed establishments and other facilities, Assemblyman Bagley amended the ordinance to only change the borough’s means of measuring distances.
Assembly members approved that amendment with a 5 to 4 vote.