The Blue Ridge City Council passed the second reading of an amendment to the alcohol ordinance during a special called meeting this week. The amendment changes the distance requirement for business owners who want to sell alcohol on their premises. It now allows a proprietor to sell alcohol 25 feet from a public street, rather than the previous requirement of 75 feet.

The change was prompted last month when Attorney Byron Wyndham, representing Waffle King in Blue Ridge, addressed his client’s plan to expand his restaurant at a Blue Ridge City Council workshop. Wyndham explained that Waffle King owner Eddie Ledford plans to expand his restaurant with a patio so it can accommodate lunch and dinner customers, as well as customers for breakfast. He went on to say that, in planning to build the patio, a zoning inspector raised the issue of the patio’s proximity to the street, a requirement to receive a pouring license for alcoholic beverages. The area where Waffle King sits is a C2 (Commercial) zoning area. According to the discussion, C2 zoning requires the structure to be 25 feet away from a public road. However, another requirement gives a distance of 75 feet. Further, in the August workshop, Wyndham noted these requirements pertained to public streets and the area in question dealt with easements, meaning private arrangements.

“It (the planned patio) will open,”

he said,

“it will be covered; you will have a wooden deck out there, but it doesn’t come to the roads; they’re easements.”

Wyndham brought a map of the area to the morning meeting to show the council the plans for expansion and the streets surrounding the restaurant.

Since this August workshop city council has worked to appropriately adjust the ordinance. During a special called meeting Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to accept the second reading of the amendment to the ordinance.