Expecting lots of thirsty new residents seeking a cold one or wine with dinner, Harford lawmakers want to quintuple the number of liquor licenses.
The county needs the additional licenses to keep up with a BRAC-related boom in bars and restaurants, backers say.
“If you go out on a Friday night, you have a 30- or 40-minute wait until you get a seat in a restaurant,” said Sen. Barry Glassman, co-sponsor of a bill to increase the number of licenses.
“Businesses need to grow to keep up with the commercial demands that BRAC will place on the county.”
Restaurant owners in Harford County are limited to two liquor licenses each. So a company or individual owning three or more restaurants in the county could serve alcohol at only two of them.
The Senate bill would increase that number to nine licenses per owner, creating the potential for 589 new licenses that could be issued among existing businesses and new applicants.
Harford restaurants now hold 84 liquor licenses.
The bill would allow the food and drink industry to expand and accommodate the estimated 20,000 new residents, supporters say.
Local restaurant owners, many represented by lawyer Joe Snee, are pushing for the bill so they can open new locations.
Bill Larney, Looney?s Pub owner and one of Snee?s clients, said he wanted to open another location but could not under the current laws.
“I?d like this bill to help local businesses, not just chains,” he said.
Glassman and co-sponsor Sen. Nancy Jacobs said the bill would prevent Harford restaurants from losing business to those in Baltimore County.
“[This will] keep us in a competitive posture,” Glassman said.
The increase in county income from license fees could total as much as $600,000 if the maximum number of licenses was issued, according to state fiscal analysts.
The Harford County Liquor Control Board will continue to regulate the issuing of liquor licenses.
“Licenses will not be handed out freely,” said Kathryn Thess, administrator of the board, which supports the bill. “They will be granted based on the needs of the population.”
