11 February, 2013

Do Parking Laws Promote Drinking and Driving?

Over at The Daily Page, Linda Falkenstein has look at the agenda of the next ALRC meeting. It includes this:

One Barrel Brewing is asking for an increase in capacity from 65 to 80, which hinges on a reduction of the rules for available parking stalls.

What are those rules? The way I read it, there are laws on the books that, in practice, ensure that taverns have enough parking spaces for people who want to consume alcohol and get back in their cars and drive away. I thought that we are in the process of discouraging drunk driving and here it sounds like the law mandates more parking spaces for people who drink and drive.

One Barrel is in a walkable neighborhood so I should think that Herr Gentry could get an exemption.

4 comments:

  1. Hell yes they do. One of the potential locations for RePublic was at W Olin and Gilson, which isn't as populated as Schenk-Atwood but would have still been walkable for a lot of people. We decided to not pursue the space because it was nowhere close to satisfying the city's requirement for tavern parking, and asking the common council for an exemption would have been a huge gamble (most folks seek approval after they've raised their capital because success in finding investors usually depends on having a feasible location).

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  2. Are there specific regulations that apply to taverns or do drinking establishments need the same amount of parking that a restaurant or shop would be required to have?

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  3. One Barrel went before ALRC because the parking laws had changed, and they are now legally eligible for a higher capacity with current parking. This was just to get the capacity on their license in line with what it could be.

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  4. Herr Donnelly - thanks for clearing that up.

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