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Stricter fines proposed for late Park Ridge liquor-license renewals
Updated: March 22, 2013 6:03AM
PARK RIDGE — Procrastinators who hold a Park Ridge liquor license may want to rethink their habits when it comes to annual renewals.
Last November, after receiving only 13 of 39 renewal applications from liquor-license holders, Mayor David Schmidt, who also serves as the city’s liquor commissioner, announced that if applications were not completed and submitted to the city by the Liquor License Review Board’s Dec. 17 meeting, establishments would be unable to serve alcohol until some time in January.
Though city staff responded by contacting businesses and making sure all the required information had been submitted by the Dec. 17 meeting, Schmidt and other members of the Liquor Board are looking for the City Council to pass stricter penalties for license holders who wait until the last minute to file their applications.
“This is really to encourage businesses to get it done by the date that is in the ordinance and on the application,” Schmidt said. “It will save time for administration, the Police Department and many different departments that are involved in chasing down information to complete the applications.”
Schmidt said the Liquor Board would like to raise the penalty for late applications from $50 to $150. In addition, establishments would be unable to serve alcohol after Dec. 31 until the Liquor Board meets to consider the late applications.
During a Jan. 28 Committee of the Whole meeting, City Manager Shawn Hamilton said new language would be drafted for the city’s Municipal Code, setting a penalty after Dec. 1 if the Liquor License Review Board must meet to consider late renewal applications. The City Council will review that language at a later meeting and consider whether a new penalty should be adopted.
A survey of 15 suburbs shows that communities like Mount Prospect, Des Plaines and Northbrook do not charge fines for late applications, but do suspend liquor sales.
