Lottery system considered for new liquor licenses

Lisa Snedeker

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

Anyone wanting to open a new drinking establishment in Henderson in the future may have to take a number -- a lottery number.

The Henderson City Council is considering changes to the tavern portion of the city's liquor ordinance that would create a lottery for the selection of new tavern licensees. A vote on Tuesday was postponed.

Councilman Andy Hafen said while he supported the changes in concept, he felt the revised ordinance left a lot of issues unresolved and policy questions unanswered.

His main objection: A lottery system gives arbitrary value to tavern licenses.

"I think we want to stay away from that," he said. "We want to do it as fairly as possible and still be responsible for the community."

The amendment also would adjust the population ratio to reflect the rapid growth of the city, from making a tavern license available for every 3,500 residents to every 7,500 residents.

Hafen questioned whether that number shouldn't be raised to 8,000.

Currently there are 11 tavern licenses issued in Henderson, which has 170,000 residents. That's about one for every 15,500 residents.

"We have to be very, very careful and not open up the floodgates here," Hafen said. "I can see us, with the ordinance before us, being inundated with thousands of applications."

The provisions for issuing new tavern licenses in the existing liquor ordinance have not been changed for years and date back to a time when the city's population was much smaller and the growth rate much slower.

City Attorney Shauna Hughes said the matter would be brought back before the council next month.