The Bellevue City Council voted Thursday to direct the city's attorney to draft an ordinance amending Bellevue's hours of liquor sales from a 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. closing.
Once the draft ordinance is completed the council will then vote on the time change at one of their upcoming public meetings.
If approved, the change would bring Bellevue in line with the communities of Sun Valley and Ketchum, both of which require bars to quit selling liquor after 2 a.m., Bellevue City Administrator Tom Blanchard said. Hailey municipal code currently only allows bars to serve liquor until 1 a.m., Blanchard said.
City Council member Shaun Mahoney, a co-owner of Mahoney's Bar and Grill in Bellevue, said bar owners in the city have expressed concerns to him about the time difference between Bellevue and the cities of Sun Valley and Ketchum. Mahoney said the bar owners are concerned that some of their patrons may be trying to rush north on Highway 75 for one last drink after Bellevue's bars have closed. Mahoney abstained from the vote by the council.
"We need to be the same as everybody else," he said.
Changing Bellevue's liquor hours of liquor sales could help eliminate that unsafe practice, Mahoney said. He said the practice raises a number of liability issues for the city.
Although eventually voting along with the rest of the City Council to have Bellevue's attorney draft a new ordinance changing the hours, council member Steve Fairbrother expressed reservations with the time change. Fairbrother said changing the hours of liquor sales would place additional requirements on Bellevue's police force. "That's another hour we'll have to pay police officers," he said.
In other Bellevue news:
· The City Council discussed the possible creation of an urban renewal district along Main Street and adjacent areas in Bellevue. Council members stressed that an urban renewal district would not create new taxes, but could help the city pay for much-needed projects like repairing streets and upgrading water and sewer infrastructure within the district.
