Iowa City to make several 21-only changes

IOWA CITY - The City Council plans to tighten up Iowa City's 21-only ordinance in order to clamp down on a small number of establishments said to be taking advantage of the law.

At a work session Monday night, council members agreed to make several changes to the law, which bans people younger than 21 from being in places with liquor licenses after 10 p.m. Official action approving the measures will have to wait for a formal council meeting.

Many of the recommendations came from bar owners themselves as part of the Partnership for Alcohol Safety, which is a group of city leaders, University of Iowa officials and students and business owners.

Some of those bar owners even opposed the 21-only law when it was implemented last year. That includes Leah Cohen, owner of Bo-James.

She told the council that while most places are following the law, a few are skirting it - getting food-related exemptions by showing that more than 50 percent of their sales come from goods and services other than alcohol. Also, a new establishment can seek a six-month exemption to the law, and some bar owners have complained that a couple of places are taking advantage of that and are allowing underage drinkers.

The downtown bar scene “has gone back and reverted to what it was two years ago before we were 21-only,” Cohen said.

One of the new provisions would require establishments with exemptions to have a PAULA ratio of 0.25 or less per officer visit. A PAULA is a citation for a possession of alcohol by an underage person.

Only three places with exceptions - Sam's Pizza, the Airliner and the Summit - are over 0.25 right now.

“I think that's a perfectly logical thing to do,” council member Mike Wright said.

Another change would allow no more than one temporary six-month exemption for the sale of a business at the same location in a three-year period. The belief is this would stop places from continually changing owners in an effort to bypass the 21-only law.

“From the feedback I've gotten, I think that's probably the most important,” downtown restaurant owner George Etre said.

Other changes the council agreed to were revoking exemptions to establishments caught selling alcohol to an underage person twice in five years, and setting guidelines for auditing the sales of venues that are close to the 50 percent standard for getting a food exemption.

The City Council was divided, and chose to set aside for now, a proposal to require restaurants that get an exception to keep their kitchens open and serve their full menu any time they are open.

Some council members were worried about the personnel costs that could create for restaurants late at night.