Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
(1)
What
is an alcohol impact area?
(a) An
alcohol impact area is a geographic area located within a city, town or county,
and that is adversely affected by chronic public inebriation or illegal
activity associated with liquor sales or consumption.
(b) The board may place special conditions or
restrictions upon off-premises sales privileges, liquor products, applicants,
license assumptions or licensees that sell liquor for off-premises consumption
(see subsection (3) of this section).
(c) The board applies a unique investigative
and review process when evaluating liquor license applications, license
assumptions or renewals for businesses located in an alcohol impact
area.
(2)
How is
an alcohol impact area formed? A local authority (that is, a city, town
or county) must first designate an alcohol impact area by ordinance and make
good faith efforts for at least six months to mitigate the effects of chronic
public inebriation with such ordinance before petitioning the board to
recognize an alcohol impact area. The board must recognize an alcohol impact
area before any unique review process, condition or restriction described in
this rule may be applied. A local authority must meet certain conditions to
achieve board recognition of an alcohol impact area.
(a) The geographic area of an alcohol impact
area must not include the entire geographic area under the jurisdiction of a
local authority. However, when a local authority designates a street as a
boundary, the board encourages that the local authority include both sides of
the street for greater effectiveness.
(b) The local authority ordinance must
explain the rationale of the proposed boundaries, and describe the boundaries
in such a way that:
(i) The board can
determine which liquor licensees are in the proposed alcohol impact area;
and
(ii) The boundaries are
understandable to the public at large.
(c) A local authority must:
(i) Submit findings of fact that demonstrate
a need for an alcohol impact area and how chronic public inebriation or illegal
activity associated with liquor sales or consumption within a proposed alcohol
impact area:
(A) Contributes to the
deterioration of the general quality of life within an alcohol impact area;
or
(B) Threatens the welfare,
health, peace or safety of an alcohol impact area's visitors or
occupants;
(ii) Submit
findings of fact that demonstrate a pervasive pattern of public intoxication or
public consumption of liquor as documented in: Crime statistics, police
reports, emergency medical response data, detoxification reports, sanitation
reports, public health records, community group petitions, public testimony or
testimony by current or former chronic public inebriates.
(d)
Minimum requirements for an alcohol
impact area petition packet:(i)
Litter/trash survey and documented results. A litter/trash survey must be
conducted within the proposed alcohol impact area boundaries for at least a
four week period. Litter/trash surveys must be completed a minimum of twice a
week. Use a GIS data map, or similar tool, to point out the "hot spots" of
heavy alcohol consumption based on the litter/trash survey. Provide a list of
alcohol products found in the litter/trash survey.
(ii) Photographic evidence of litter and
drinking in public.
(iii) Law
enforcement testimonial(s). Law enforcement testimonial must be from at least
one law enforcement officer who frequently works within the proposed alcohol
impact area boundaries. A testimonial must discuss the impact of high alcohol
content or volume products within the proposed alcohol impact area boundaries
and how implementation of an alcohol impact area would benefit the
community.
(iv) Letters of support
submitted by neighborhood councils, local agencies, schools or universities,
business associations, fire departments, local businesses, or private citizens
in the community.
(v) Crime
statistics and police reports. Crime statistics and police reports must show
the statistics for alcohol-related criminal activity within the proposed
alcohol impact area boundaries, and must show evidence linking specific
products with chronic public inebriation activity.
(e) After reviewing the alcohol impact area
petition packet, the board may request supplemental materials to prove the
necessity of an alcohol impact area. The supplemental materials may include:
(i) Additional testimonials submitted by
citizens who would be directly affected by the proposed alcohol impact
area.
(ii) Emergency medical
response data. This information must provide evidence that chronic inebriation
within the proposed alcohol impact area requires an abnormally high amount of
medical emergency care.
(iii)
Sanitation reports. This information must provide evidence that chronic
inebriation within the proposed alcohol impact area boundaries creates an
abnormally high amount of sanitation problems.
(iv) Detoxification reports. This information
must provide evidence that chronic inebriation within the proposed alcohol
impact area requires an abnormally high amount of detoxification
services.
(f) Submit
documentation that demonstrates a local authority's past good faith efforts to
control the problem through voluntary measures (see subsection (4) of this
section). The voluntary compliance report must:
(i) Provide an executive summary of the
results of the voluntary compliance period;
(ii) Provide evidence of the local
authorities' efforts to control the problem through voluntary measures;
and
(iii) Explain why the voluntary
measures were not effective and how mandatory restrictions will help address
the problem.
(g) Request
additional conditions or restrictions and explain how the conditions or
restrictions will reduce chronic public inebriation or illegal activity
associated with off-premises sales or liquor consumption (see subsection (3) of
this section).
(3)
What conditions or restrictions may the board recognize for an alcohol
impact area?
(a) Restrictions may
include, but are not limited to:
(i)
Limitations on business hours of operation for off-premises liquor
sales;
(ii) Restrictions on
off-premises sale of certain liquor products within an alcohol impact area;
and
(iii) Restrictions on container
sizes available for off-premises sale.
(b) The board has adopted a standardized list
of products that will be banned in alcohol impact areas. The list can be found
on the LCB website. The list contains products that are banned in the majority
of current alcohol impact areas. Requests for additional product restrictions
(for example, prohibition of sale of certain liquor products or container
sizes) must originate from a local authority's law enforcement agency or public
health authority, whereas restrictions affecting business operations (for
example, hours of operation) may originate from a local authority's law
enforcement agency, public authority or governing body. Product restrictions
must be reasonably linked to problems associated with chronic public
inebriation or illegal activity. Reasonable links include, but are not limited
to: Police, fire or emergency medical response statistics; photographic
evidence; law enforcement, citizen or medical-provider testimonial; testimony
by current or former chronic public inebriates; litter pickup; or other
statistically documented evidence.
(c) After the board has recognized an alcohol
impact area the local authority may request the board approve additional
products to their banned products list provided that the products are
reasonably linked to the problems associated with chronic public inebriation or
illegal activity. Reasonable links include, but are not limited to: Police,
fire or emergency medical response statistics; photographic evidence; law
enforcement, citizen or medical-provider testimonial; testimony by current or
former chronic public inebriates; litter pickup; or other statistically
documented evidence.
(d) A local
authority may propose the removal of a condition, restriction or product from
its alcohol impact area's restricted product list provided that a local
authority demonstrates its reason (such as, a product is no longer produced or
bottled) to the board in writing.
(4)
What types of voluntary efforts
must a local authority attempt before the board will recognize an alcohol
impact area?
(a) A local authority must
notify all off-premises sales licensees in a proposed alcohol impact area that:
(i) Behavior associated with liquor sales and
associated illegal activity is impacting chronic public inebriation;
and
(ii) Existing voluntary options
are available to them to remedy the problem.
(b) A local authority's efforts must include
additional voluntary actions. Examples include, but are not limited to:
(i) Collaborative actions with neighborhood
citizens, community groups or business organizations to promote business
practices that reduce chronic public inebriation;
(ii) Attempts to achieve voluntary agreements
with off-premises sales licensees to promote public welfare, health, peace or
safety;
(iii) Requesting licensees
to voluntarily discontinue selling products that are considered contributing to
the problem;
(iv) Distribution of
educational materials to chronic public inebriates or licensees;
(v) Detoxification services;
(vi) Business incentives to discourage the
sale of problem products; or
(vii)
Change in land use ordinances.
(c) A local authority must implement these
voluntary agreements for at least six months before a local authority may
present documentation to the board that voluntary efforts failed to adequately
mitigate the effects of chronic public inebriation and need
augmentation.
(5)
What will the board do once it recognizes an alcohol impact area?
(a) The board will notify, in a timely
manner, the appropriate liquor distributors of the product
restrictions.
(b) The board will
notify, in a timely manner, all off-premises sales licensees in a proposed or
existing alcohol impact area whenever the board recognizes, or recognizes
changes to, an alcohol impact area (see subsection (7) of this
section).
(6)
What
is the review process for liquor license applications, license assumptions, and
renewals inside an alcohol impact area?
(a) When the board receives an application
for a new liquor license or a license assumption that includes an off-premises
sales privilege, the board will establish an extended time period of 60
calendar days for a local authority to comment upon the application.
(i) A local authority may, and is encouraged
to, submit comment before the end of a comment period. A local authority may
request an extension of a comment period when unusual circumstances, which must
be explained in the request, require additional time for comment.
(ii) A local authority will notify a licensee
or applicant when a local authority requests the board to extend a 60-day
comment period.
(b) For
renewals, the board will notify a local authority at least 90 calendar days
before a current license expires. The same requirements in (a)(i) and (ii) of
this subsection apply to the 90-day comment period for problem renewals. For
the purposes of this section, a problem renewal means a licensee, a licensed
business or a licensed location with a documented history of noncompliance or
illegal activity.
(7)
When and for how long will an alcohol impact area be in effect, and may
an alcohol impact area be changed?
(a)
An alcohol impact area takes effect on the day that the board passes a
resolution to recognize an alcohol impact area. However, product prohibitions
take effect no less than 30 calendar days after the board passes such
resolution in order to give retailers and distributors sufficient time to
remove products from their inventories.
(b) An alcohol impact area remains in effect
until:
(i) A local authority repeals the
enabling ordinance that defines an alcohol impact area;
(ii) A local authority requests that the
board revoke its recognition of an alcohol impact area;
(iii) The board repeals its recognition of an
alcohol impact area of its own initiative and following a public hearing;
or
(iv) A local authority fails to
comply with subsection (8) of this section.
(c) A local authority may petition the board
to modify an alcohol impact area's geographic boundaries, repeal or modify an
existing condition or restriction, or create a new condition or restriction.
The board may agree to do so provided that a local authority shows good cause
and submits supporting documentation as contained in subsections (2) and (3) of
this section.
(d) Prohibition of a
new product added to an existing prohibited products list takes effect no
sooner than 30 calendar days following the board's recognition of a modified
prohibited products list.
(8)
Reporting requirements and
five-year assessments.
(a) A year after
the implementation of the alcohol impact area a local authority shall submit a
report to the board that clearly demonstrates the intended effectiveness of an
alcohol impact area's conditions or restrictions. The report is due no later
than 60 calendar days following the first anniversary of the implementation of
the alcohol impact area. The report must include the same categories of
information and statistics that were originally used to request the alcohol
impact area.
(b) The board will
conduct an assessment of an alcohol impact area once every five years following
the fifth, 10th, 15th, et cetera, anniversary of the board's recognition of the
alcohol impact area. The five-year assessment process is as follows:
(i) Within 20 calendar days of receiving a
local authority's fifth, 10th, 15th, et cetera, report, the board shall notify
affected parties of the upcoming assessment, whereupon an affected party has 20
calendar days to comment upon, or petition the board to discontinue its
recognition of, an alcohol impact area (see (d) of this subsection). Affected
parties may include, but are not limited to: Liquor licensees, citizens or
neighboring local authorities.
(ii)
An affected party may submit a written request for one 20 calendar-day
extension of the comment/petition period, which the board may grant provided
that an affected party provides sufficient reason why he or she is unable to
meet the initial 20-day deadline.
(iii) The board will complete an assessment
within 60 calendar days following the close of the final comment/petition
period.
(c) An
assessment shall include an analysis of:
(i)
The same categories of information and statistics that were originally used to
request the alcohol impact area; and
(ii) Comments or petitions submitted by
affected parties. An assessment may also include modifications that a local
authority must make to an alcohol impact area as required by the board, or the
board's reasons for revoking recognition of an alcohol impact area.
(d) To successfully petition the
board to discontinue its recognition of an alcohol impact area, an affected
party must:
(i) Submit findings of fact that
demonstrate how chronic public inebriation or illegal activity associated with
liquor sales or consumption within a proposed alcohol impact area does not or
no longer:
(A) Contributes to the
deterioration of the general quality of life within an alcohol impact area;
or
(B) Threatens the welfare,
health, peace or safety of an alcohol impact area's visitors or
occupants;
(ii) Submit
findings of fact that demonstrate the absence of a pervasive pattern of public
intoxication or public consumption of liquor as documented in crime statistics,
police reports, emergency medical response data, detoxification reports,
sanitation reports, public health records or similar records; and
(iii) Demonstrate how the absence of
conditions or restrictions will affect chronic public inebriation or illegal
activity associated with off-premises sales or liquor consumption (see
subsection (3) of this section).
(e) An affected party may submit a written
request for one 20-day extension of the comment period, which the board may
grant provided that an affected party provides sufficient reason why he or she
is unable to meet the 20-day deadline.
Reviser's note: The spelling error in the above
section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register
pursuant to the requirements of
RCW
34.08.040.
Statutory Authority:
RCW
66.08.030. 10-19-065, § 314-12-215,
filed 9/15/10, effective 10/16/10. Statutory Authority:
RCW
66.08.030 and
66.24.010. 99-13-042, §
314-12-215, filed 6/8/99, effective
7/9/99.