Limiting the number of beer tents outside the new home of the College World Series is a goal of a proposed Omaha city ordinance, a city official said Friday.
Advertising
Tom Mumgaard, deputy city attorney, said the ordinance would affect temporary liquor licenses issued for sales during the CWS.
Licenses for outdoor beer tents surrounding TD Ameritrade Park would be limited to bars, restaurants, hotels and other businesses near the stadium that have permanent retail liquor licenses, he said.
The ordinance, for example, would prevent a restaurant or bar in another part of the city from getting a temporary license to operate a beer tent near the stadium.
The NCAA in the past had expressed concern to the city about the number of tents selling beer outside Rosenblatt Stadium during the CWS.
Mumgaard said the city wants to keep the area around TD Ameritrade Park from getting “saturated with temporary bars.”
The ordinance exempts hospitality tents that are not open to the public. Companies, for example, could operate such tents for employees and customers.
The ordinance is on the City Council’s agenda for Tuesday. A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25.
Mumgaard said another goal is to promote development around TD Ameritrade Park.
Councilman Chris Jerram, a member of the council’s law committee, said the intent is to reward businesses that have made an investment in the area surrounding the ballpark by operating a restaurant or similar business year ’round.
Restrictions on beer tents during the CWS would apply within these boundaries: Pacific Street on the south, Interstate 480 on the west, Nicholas Street on the north and generally the Missouri River on the east.
Goldberg’s II at 50th and Dodge Streets is among the restaurants that had received temporary licenses in past years to sell beer near Rosenblatt during the CWS. That restaurant is not within the proposed boundaries.
Gene Dunn, a co-owner of Goldberg’s, said that, regardless of the proposed ordinance, he would not have tried to get a temporary license to sell alcohol near the new stadium.
He said prices to rent land or part of a building near the new stadium would be significantly more expensive than they were near Rosenblatt.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com
That is a BIG area to cover. The South boundary is too south. I could see Dodge or Farnam, but Pacific St. ridicioulous.