Burnside looks to expand ABC ordinance permissions for signs

Christopher Harris, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset, Ky.
·4 min read

May 4—When it comes to alcohol in Burnside, restaurants got served first, as a local election made them able to legally serve adult beverages as of 2004. Package stores followed behind, arriving in 2013.

As it turns out, the advertisement signs for those products will follow in the same order.

Burnside Police Chief Mike Hill told the Burnside City Council at their May meeting held Monday night that he realized the city's recent change to it's sign policy regarding alcoholic product advertisements left out one key segment of the market — those same package stores.

In January, Burnside amended it's ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) Ordinance to allow up to two signs, banners, posters or similar displays advertising the availability of alcoholic purchases on the exterior of a Burnside business, though none are allowed to occupy more than 20 percent of the window surface. Previously, such advertisements had been prohibited within the Burnside city limits.

"When they got changed, the change did not include QRP, which is quota retail package stores and malt beverage package stores, which are gas stations," said Hill. "They had gotten left out of the change."

Hill realized this while doing his regular inspections as an ABC officer, and approached the council to ask whether or not the exclusion was purposeful.

"I think after the first change got made and that number of two signs got released, I think some of those (retail stores) thought that included them," said Hill. "I think there was a misunderstanding amongst owners. ... Some of them had put them up, and then when I did my inspections, I requested that they take them down until it got changed. ... Several of the owners said, 'I thought we could have two,' and I had to explain the situation."

Upon realizing that it was unintentional to allow the change for restaurants but not retail stores, Hill requested to allow all licensees the same privileges. The council agreed and requested to have the working in the ordinance changed, where it could be voted on and approved at a future point.

That wasn't Hill's only business to address at the meeting Monday, however. He also presented a video of a "Click It or Ticket" traffic safety campaign in which Burnside Police participated along with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, Somerset Police, and Kentucky State Police. Hill participated in the shooting of a commercial scheduled to start airing Memorial Day weekend, and there will also be billboard images featuring law enforcement personnel from the various agencies with the message "Pulaski County Buckles Up!"

"(It's about) buckling up and being safe, and (that) we're not writing tickets just for tickets, we're doing it to save lives," said Hill. "That's what we're trying to get across."

In other city council business:

—The council heard a first reading on the amended short-term rental ordinance, with language changed from the previous draft that needed to be voted upon (as it's a first reading, no vote took place on Monday; that happens at the second reading).

"It reads like 'unit parcel' and we changed it to 'unit owner,' because what happened is, we have a couple of people who have several units," said Burnside Mayor Robert Lawson. "(For instance), if you take Villager Resort, where he's got three or four under one LLC. The way it read, he had to pay a fee for each one of them, the same fee for each one of them. This way, if he's got three, he would fall under one LLC or incorporation. He'd have to pay the first initial rate, then he'd get a reduction on the next two. If the owner's got multi-units, they would get a break past that (first) one."

Also amended was the date for the changes in the ordinance taking effect on July 1.

—Billy Lewis replaced new city councilor Lula Jean Burton on the city's Planning and Zoning Committee.

—The assistant tourism position was done away with. Lawson and Burnside Tourism Director Alison Pyles said the city would look to hire two part-time positions, one to help Pyles in her duties, the other to help at City Hall.

—The council went into executive session for a short period of time, and voted to foreclose on a property with delinquent taxes on East Antioch Avenue.