Savannah liquor license dispute: Business owner, city leaders respond

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A dispute over liquor licenses that divided Savannah City Council during its July meeting is continuing, with a local business owner and city leaders responding.

The debate started when the Savannah Bee Company applied for a liquor license and was approved in July 9ths monthly meeting. Nearby Vintage Space Event Center, which is located in a liquor license overlay, has not been able to obtain one due to the city’s long-standing restriction.

Business owner cites lost revenue

Vintage Space Event Center owner Roshida Edwards said the overlay has cost her business significantly.

“Honestly, that booking totaled up to about $40,000 that was lost because they needed to have alcohol,” Edwards said.

Edwards said she was told she needed to obtain a variance from the MPC in order to get a liquor license, which she has acquired. She said that although she faced some opposition, support from hundreds outweighed it.

Edwards said she contacted the city’s revenue director for next steps, only to learn the department had been instructed not to approve the application.

“Absolutely no movement in getting the application in and getting it before city council to get approved,” she said.

City leaders respond

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said the alcohol overlay has been in place for eight years and was established four years before Edwards signed her lease. He said it is working and was put in place at the community’s request.

Johnson said Edwards was informed of the overlay restriction before signing her lease.

“She was told before she leased the facility not to do it,” Johnson said. “She did it anyway.”

Johnson said city council does not want to address the overlay issue until there is measurable and demonstrable change.

“And the reality is the overlay is what the overlay is. Right now, the city council does not have the desire, the willingness, or the appetite to address the issues of the overlay until there’s been some measurable and demonstrable change in the numbers of alcohol serving establishments in those corridors,” he said.

Johnson also addressed the broader question of alcohol as a revenue source for businesses in the area.

“I refuse to believe that the only revenue driver that Black businesses have is to sell alcohol,” he said.

Johnson said the city supports event spaces, but with conditions.

“We need event spaces. We need places that people can go and enjoy themselves, just not in that space,” he said.

Johnson said the city has been consistent in its decision and has not approved any business for a liquor license in the restricted areas since 2018.

Alderwoman calls for review of overlay

District 1 Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier said the overlay has served its purpose but called for a complete review of the alcohol ordinance and the overlay.

“And we should have re-evaluated it after so many years to see if we needed to continue, adjust, or eliminate it. And we have not done that,” Lanier said.

Lanier said she intends to push for change and addressed colleagues who may oppose her efforts, adding that she believes the opposition may stem from unintended economic discrimination.

“And so now we’re going to have to target where we have these roadblocks and bottlenecks in trying to achieve what this district needs to achieve. And we’re going to start with someone on council who is a Black woman business owner and has a business in this first district. And that all the person does not support the effort here that we’re trying to do. Although her district is the fifth, she doesn’t have any business in saying what I’m leading my people to prosperity in the first. So if you don’t understand this young lady losing revenue, you will understand it pretty soon,” Lanier said.

The next Savannah City Council meeting is scheduled for Aug. 13.