NLV wants to put cork in booming booze business

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005 | 7:57 a.m.

Concerned that there are too many taverns and not enough restaurants, North Las Vegas is considering allowing only one new bar to open per year and restricting their locations.

At a meeting Wednesday, the City Council also will consider further restricting taverns by prohibiting them within 500 feet of homes.

In addition, new taverns would have to be 2,500 feet away from any other saloon, tavern/restaurant, nonprofit club or supper club, according to the proposed ordinance.

That is 1,000 feet more than the existing ordinance requires.

Councilman Robert Eliason said North Las Vegas already has too many bars -- 70 plus with more than half in the downtown and older parts of the city that he represents.

Residents have to wait more than an hour on the weekends to get a table in many family-style restaurants because there are so few, he said.

"If you have a bar on every corner, that is competition for the sit-down restaurants," Eliason said. "In the studies we have done, the citizens have asked for more sit-down restaurants. A bar is not a sit-down restaurant. Bar food is not want they want. They want a restaurant with good food."

North Las Vegas' ordinance currently limits the number of new bars allowed to 10 per year. Eight licenses were issued between 2000 and 2004, but city officials said there has been a flood of applications this year.

The city attorney's office and other officials are reviewing the proposed ordinance, and further changes could be made before the council votes on it, Eliason said.

Some officials are concerned about legal challenges if the city makes the ordinance too restrictive by allowing only a single new tavern a year, he said.

Rod Atamian, chief financial officer of Golden Gaming, which operates the PT's Pub, Place and Gold taverns in Las Vegas, said the limit of one license a year would be bad for North Las Vegas residents. Golden Gaming, which has 30 establishments in the Las Vegas area, opened a PT's Gold on Ann Road in August and plans to open a another on Centennial Parkway and Losee Road in 2006.

"We understand the city's desire of quality versus quantity, but we suspect there is sufficient demand in North Las Vegas for more than one tavern a year," Atamian said.

Atamian called the new PT's Gold brand, which has 15 slot machines, a "tavern in name only" and described it as more upscale with a bigger menu.

"The license is a tavern, but it is not a tavern in the traditional sense in Las Vegas of five, 10 or 15 years ago," Atamian said.

Despite some suggestions to increase the distance separating taverns and other facilities, the proposed ordinance retains the current 1,500-foot distance between taverns and churches, schools or parks.

It also does not provide an exception to the distance requirements within mixed-use developments, an issue to be considered at a later date, city officials said.

That has been a sticking point among developers. Las Vegas attorney Jennifer Lazovich, who represents a regional mall developer proposing a mixed-use project, suggested to the council that it allow several taverns to be built at one location such as a regional mall, rather than have them spread throughout the city.

The ordinance does not affect those applying for a liquor license within a grocery store, casino or restaurant.

North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sharon Powers said her group has not taken a position on the ordinance but understands the rationale for it.

"I know they (council members) are concerned about not having bars popping up on every corner," Powers said. "That will not bring in restaurants for a growing residential community."

Brian Wargo can be reached at 259-4011 or at wargo@lasvegassun.com.