Lavonia City Council Drops Consideration of Alcohol Amendment

A proposed amendment in Lavonia that would have allowed non-profit groups to sell beer or wine at events held on city properties, such as city parks, is now off the table.

At their work session Tuesday night, the council and mayor discussed the issue after council members earlier this month expressed some concerns over allowing alcohol in areas where children and families are present.

At the April 1 regular meeting City Attorney Jay Doss, explained the ordinance would apply to non-profit groups only and under certain conditions.

At that meeting, Councilmen Andrew Murphy and Jeremy Madden said they had reservations about the ordinance and the council voted to table a decision until they had time to do more research on the matter and discuss it at their work session.

And to further muddy the waters concerns were raised as to whether the ordinance would affect the sale of alcohol by vendors at this year’s Ren Fest.

Last year, the City Council approved an alcohol amendment to allow the sale of beer and wine at the 2023 Renaissance Festival.

At the time, part of Ren Fest took place at the old Moose Lodge which had closed its doors but the Moose Order still owned the property.

Last summer, the City of Lavonia purchased the Moose Lodge property and it became city property.

Had this latest proposed amendment to the alcohol ordinance passed, it would have allowed the sale of beer and wine to be sold at this year’s RenFest which is again being held on the old Moose Lodge property.

Currently, the sale of alcohol on any city property is not allowed.

So at their work session Tuesday night, Mayor Courtney Umbehant recommended the proposed amendment to the alcohol ordinance be dropped.

The Mayor said since the regular meeting, no council member had offered any recommendations or changes to the proposed ordinance.

Umbehant also pointed out there has been some controversy regarding the alcohol ordinance which he said has given citizens the wrong impression regarding where he stands on the issue.

In February of this year, the Council approved the creation of an Entertainment District downtown wherein the sale of beer and wine during events would be allowed under certain conditions.

So for at least the rest of 2024, the sale of any alcoholic beverages is not allowed on any city-owned property outside of the designated downtown Entertainment District.