Grovetown to decide on Sunday drinks

Grovetown residents will vote to fill more than expiring City Council seats in Tuesday's general and special election.

Their votes on a referendum question also will decide whether restaurants in the city will be allowed to serve alcohol on Sundays.

The city had proposed an ordinance to allow Sunday by-the-drink alcohol sales in restaurants in May, but the city attorney realized Sunday alcohol sales cannot be passed through a city ordinance.

Georgia law states the change must be voted on by city residents in a referendum.

If passed, the change proposed in the referendum question would allow by-the-drink alcohol sales in restaurants between 1 and 11 p.m. on Sundays. A vote of 50 percent plus one is needed for the referendum to pass.

Grovetown Mayor Dennis Trudeau said he is still unsure whether voters will pass the referendum.

"It depends," Trudeau said, adding that no establishment can sell alcohol on Sundays within 300 feet of a church. "I don't really know. It may not, because we've got 14 churches in town."

So even if the referendum is passed, it might be difficult for establishments to meet the necessary land requirements, Trudeau said.

But Trudeau said if the referendum allowing Sunday alcohol sales is passed, he believes it will attract more restaurants to the city.

"We'll have upper-class restaurants coming in if it passes," Trudeau said.

If the referendum is passed, Trudeau said, he and the City Council would complete the ordinance and schedule the required public readings of it. He said the change would go into effect in the next few months.