Politics & Government

BYOB Petition Certified—Question Goes to Council

The question is headed for a public vote in the May 8 municipal election.

City Clerk Linda MacIntrye has certified a petition that calls for a public vote on allowing BYOB ("Bring Your Own Bottle") restaurants in the dry town of Ocean City.

The City Clerk's Office has confirmed that the petition has a sufficient number of signatures of registered Ocean City voters to have the binding question included on the ballot for the May 8 election.

The petitioners needed at least 352 signatures (10 percent of the number of Ocean City voters in the last General Assembly election), and they submitted a petition with 382 signatures on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The petition includes a proposed ordinance amending the Ocean City ban on BYOB (see attached PDF).

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Before the question goes to voters on May 8, City Council has the opportunity to pass the BYOB ordinance without voter input. A vote is scheduled for the public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8, on the third floor of City Hall.

The council vote would be considered the second and final reading of an amended ordinance (with the signed petition considered a first reading).

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If City Council approves the ordinance, BYOB would become law in Ocean City.

If City Council votes "no" on the ordinance, the question will be included on the ballot in the May 8 election as a binding question.

City Council members have expressed universal opposition to the idea. In January 2011, Council unanimously passed a nonbinding "resolution opposing any effort to remove the prohibition of consuming alcoholic beverages in restaurants, cafes or food establishments."

If council takes no action on the ordinance, the petitioners would have to wait 20 days (council's allotted period to take action) before the question could be submitted to the county clerk. In this case, a council decision to take no action would likely cause the petitioners to miss the deadline for getting the question on the May 8 ballot. Council members have shown no support for this sort of pocket veto.


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