Aurora enacts tougher liquor ordinance

Aurora aldermen Tuesday approved a series of changes to the city liquor ordinance including the addition of a one-year probationary period for new liquor licensees, required state certification of all liquor sellers and servers and increased seating restrictions for taverns.

After conversations with many of the city's 170 liquor license holders, some aldermen said they were afraid the one-year probation and the chance of having a license immediately revoked after an incident would deter new development from coming in but Mayor Thomas Weisner was not willing to back down.

"I'm convinced most good operators would not be deterred because they're doing things right," Weisner said. "Others will be and that's OK with me."

Other changes to the ordinance also have been included to improve downtown aesthetics.

According to the amended ordinance, in the downtown, dining tables and chairs must be placed within five feet of the exterior windows and doors visible to pedestrians on the sidewalk adjacent to the property to "screen dancing and lounge activity."

All servers or sellers are now also required to be state certified within 90 days of hire. Possessing open alcohol in public is now illegal.

Alderman at Large Richard Irvin was the lone opposition to the ordinance because he disagrees with language in a section of the ordinance that spells out that licenses can be refused to someone convicted of, placed on supervision for or who pleaded guilty to liquor-related offenses within a year of applying for a license.

Tuesday's amendment includes a sentence indicating: "There may be additional bases for determining that someone is not of good character or reputation."

Irvin said the added sentence gives the liquor commissioner (Weisner) too much discretion in denying potential license holders.