St. Paul City Council pushes back vote on liquor law change by Mayor Carter’s request

The St. Paul City Council was poised to change a longstanding liquor ordinance but decided to conduct further study of the issue before taking a vote on the proposal in March.

Right now, liquor stores have to be a minimum of a half-mile from each other but City Council members Jane Prince and Dai Thao co-authored a proposed ordinance change that would reduce that distance to just a quarter-mile if one of the businesses only sold wine.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wrote a letter to City Council members asking them to hold off on a vote until the issue was vetted and had a more public process in place.

St. Paul to consider change to longstanding liquor law

“There are a lot of issues that need to be explored with this, ranging from public safety issues to market impacts and sales tax revenues," the mayor stated in his letter.

Carter’s statement also said, “I believe this conversation and all the businesses and neighbors impacted by it citywide would benefit from an expanded public process.”

Thomas Keim owns Yoerg Brewery and would like to open a wine shop right next door at the corner of Sixth and Maria streets on the city’s east side.

“This would be great for the east side and would not lead to a proliferation of wine stores in the city," Keim said. “There are only seven licenses available, and so far, after this provision has been on the books for 80 years, only one person has asked for a wine license.”

The City Council tabled its vote until a staff report is issued on the subject next March.