Towns toughen rules for bars

Vicki Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Williamstown Mayor Jean Ford thought her town was the "perfect little hometown West Virginia," a charming, family oriented community of 3,000 hugging the east bank of the Ohio River.

Then four video poker bars set up shop downtown.

"With the big signs and everything, they just destroy it," she said. "It's just not the same little sweet place that we always had."

With three more clubs on the way, the town government decided to act: Last month, it passed an ordinance requiring gambling parlors to be at least 1,000 feet apart instead of the 150 feet mandated by state law.

Ripley and Ravenswood have gone even further to slow the proliferation of state-sanctioned miniature gambling parlors, expanding the distance the clubs must be from a church, a school or a residential area.

The state requires 300 feet between a betting parlor and a church or school, and does not address residences. Ripley requires 1,000 feet, while Ravenswood requires 2,000 feet. And both added residential areas to the protected zone.

Ravenswood Mayor Clair Roseberry acknowledges that rules out a lot of ground in his town of 4,200.

"It sure does! And that's what we wanted," he said. "... Our intention was to make it difficult.

"I'm not sure how this is going to work," he said, "but at least it gives planning and zoning a tool to work with."

In April 2001, at the urging of Gov. Bob Wise, lawmakers passed the Limited Video Lottery Act to allow 9,000 video poker machines in bars, private clubs and other adult settings. The goal was to eradicate similar "gray machines" that had operated for years without regulation or taxation.

But as the licenses are sold, the clubs are changing the landscape in parts of West Virginia, with many declaring themselves "casinos" on outdoor signs. Though the law prohibits advertising the machines, club owners skirt that by posting the name under which the business incorporated.

Usually, that's enough to tell would-be gamblers that machines await inside. The Lottery Commission has recommended legislative rule changes to deal with the signs, but some communities aren't counting on lawmakers for protection.

Ripley Mayor Ollie Harvey urges other towns to act now.

"I think they need very much to get an ordinance in place, and we'll be happy to share it with any municipality, large or small," she said. "It's working."

So far, Ripley has only two video poker bars, Harvey said, "but we would just as soon really not even have those."

Ripley's ordinance, which also applies to strip clubs and other adult-oriented businesses, passed in January after a man tried to open a betting parlor near the high school. He'd started building renovations without a permit and was shut down. A Parkersburg woman then tried but failed to open a video poker bar near a church.

Williamstown took longer to act, but when it did, it added another component to challenge the club owners: For each machine and each employee, a video poker club must create one parking space. For nonprofit fraternal groups, which can have as many as 10 machines, that could mean a dozen or more spaces.

The provision was aimed at controlling congestion but also serves as a deterrent to open a club within town limits, Ford said.

"For many, many, many years, we had only one liquor license in the town," she said. "And now everyone has one."

To get the video poker machines, clubs must have a Class A liquor or beer license, even though many don't sell alcohol.

"It's such a farce," Ford said.

Ravenswood passed an ordinance last month, then revised it Sept. 16 to double the required distance from homes, churches and schools to 2,000 feet.

"We didn't want those type of signs all over the town," said Roseberry, who was bombarded with demands for action in August, when newspapers ran an Associated Press photograph and story about the proliferation of neighborhood casinos.

The picture showed a church in the foreground and a sign for the Sports Grill Casino barely 300 feet away. It now hangs on a bulletin board in Ravenswood's Town Hall.

"So if people want to know why we're doing this," Roseberry said, "there it is."