Ocean City BYOB Vote Is Off for November

A public question on allowing BYOB restaurants in the dry town of Ocean City will not be included on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.

Proponents have withdrawn a petition that called for a public vote on the issue.

The petitioners had enough signatures to force the binding vote in November, but fears that a recent court case in northern New Jersey may invalidate at least part of their proposal have led them to start over.

The group will draft a new version of a BYOB petition and seek new signatures calling for a public question on the ballot for Ocean City's municipal elections in May 2012, according to Bill McGinnity, a vice president of the Ocean City Restaurant Association.

"We don't want people to vote on something that's not black and white," McGinnity said. "We want the community to know that we truly mean what we say -- that we're trying to make it right for Ocean City."

Ocean City has prohibited the sale and public consumption of alcohol through various means since its founding in the 19th century. The city has built a reputation as "America's Greatest Family Resort," and the BYOB proposal has drawn staunch opposition from many who want to preserve the status quo.

But the restaurant owners who organized the petition drive argue that allowing "bring your own bottle," or BYOB, restaurants could help drive visitors to Ocean City year-round -- not just for dining, but for shopping in general.

They drafted a petition in the spring that included a proposed new ordinance (see PDF above) to regulate BYOB and replace the local ordinance that bans it. They successfully collected enough signatures of registered Ocean City voters (10 percent of the number of Ocean City voters in the most recent General Assembly election, in this case 498) to bring the question to the public in November.

But while they were collecting signatures, a New Jersey appeals court was ruling on a BYOB case in Sayreville, NJ.

Sayreville passed a local ordinance that allowed restaurants but not a strip club to permit BYOB.

A lower court upheld the city's ordinance, but the Appellate Division reversed that decision on June 13, 2011. The decision said the state's statute on BYOB pre-empts the local ordinance.

The of the case are fairly complicated, but lawyers for both Ocean City and the restaurant owners seemed to agree that a part of Ocean City's proposed BYOB ordinance (that would regulate how much alcohol could be brought into restaurants) could be subject to legal challenge based on the new precedent.

Those opinions led to the petitioners' decision to start fresh.

A revised ordinance could be very similar to the currently proposed one, according to Jeff Sutherland, the attorney representing the petitioners. But he said the extra time would give the petitioners a chance to take a second look at everything.

Sutherland said the number of required signatures may change based on turnout at the new General Assembly election in November. But because the petitioners have already collected the names and addresses of the people who signed the original petition, the second signature drive could be easier.

After City Council voted on Aug. 25 not to support the proposed BYOB initiative, the petitioners legally had 10 days to withdraw their proposal.