Jill Schramm/MDN Tracy Boyd with the Pour Farm makes a point to the city’s Alcohol Ordinance Review & Rewrite Committee Tuesday.

A city committee looking into removing caps on the number of certain alcohol licenses in Minot advanced a new proposal Tuesday but without much support from bar owners.

The committee now has two different proposals for eliminating license caps, which could be further vetted or sent on to the Minot City Council as alternatives once the committee completes its work. The Alcohol Ordinance Review & Rewrite Committee is considering various changes to the city’s alcohol ordinances in addition to license caps. Another meeting is tentatively planned for Dec. 16.

Council member Paul Pitner, committee chairman, offered a proposal to set the city’s price for a retail liquor license at $5,000 and raise the annual renewal fee from $3,125 to $5,000. Current license holders would have the renewal fee waived for 20 years, which would incorporate any increase in renewal fees that the city later might impose.

To address the market value of licenses, which Pitner said his research estimates at an average of $133,400, his proposal would pay each current license holder $25,000 from the city’s economic development fund. License holders would need to execute a release of all claims against the city before receiving the funds. If they do not sign a release, the council would amend the ordinance to remove the cap, without compensation to the license holders.

“I feel that we have a barrier of entry into this industry,” Pitner said. “Any license holder that has a license would probably agree with that – that they had to pay an exorbitant amount of money, no matter what that was, what point in time that was. You had to be in the right place at the right time, right time in life, to even get into this industry.

“What I wanted to try to do was reduce the barrier of entry while compensating fair market value,” he added. “At the city policy level, at this committee, we are concerned not with the bottom line of a business, not of protecting someone’s slice of the pie. We’re trying to become pro-business, pro-growth, pro-entrepreneurship, pro-development.”

Tony Mueller with Sports on Tap said a $5,000 license fee with no caps would bring negative consequences.

“There are barriers of entry, or caps, everywhere when dealing with alcohol. Everywhere. All over the country,” he said. “It is a highly regulated substance that we’re selling, and if it was a $5,000 barrier of entry, or fee, I think that would drastically change the makeup of the city.”

“Now you’re handing out licenses like they’re Chiclets. Nobody has help now, so you’re adding all these other businesses,” said Tracy Boyd with the Pour Farm. “I don’t see how this is going to be growth. This is going to be death for the ones that are already there, already don’t have the staff.”

Melissa Wright with Arny’s 2.0 said Minot has issued more licenses that fall under its capped category than Fargo, which is three times Minot’s size.

“They don’t seem to be having a problem with their market. They don’t seem to be having a problem growing. So, I don’t see why this is even a question,” she said.

Wright also questioned the effect that adding more establishments would have on a police department that already is short-staffed.

Jessica Klein, attorney for Marketplace Liquor, suggested the committee look at a higher fee and shorter waiver time to benefit existing license owners and for easier administration. She also said committee member Kevin Black’s proposal leans more favorably toward current license owners and suggested ferreting out the details to determine more about its impact on owners.

The committee, which accepted Pitner’s proposal, also previously accepted a proposal from Black that sets the city’s minimum fee for issuing a license at between $100,000 and $150,000. Current license holders would have first rights to sell their licenses to an interested party before the city would issue a license. All current license holders also would receive a one-time renewal fee waiver, allowing them to transfer their licenses one time for no issuance fee. Licenses purchased from the city or transferred from a current holder would no longer be transferable but would go back to the city upon nonrenewal, according to Black’s plan.

Pitner said both proposals are frameworks that can be further worked out at the city council level. City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim added city staff will iron out the details once the council indicates the direction it wants to take.

Committee member Jon Hanson, who opposed both the accepted proposals, offered a plan that called for keeping caps but separating off-sale from on-sale to form its own license category. At least eight more licenses would become available if off-sale establishments decide to sell off their on-sale portions, he said.

The committee rejected Hanson’s proposal.