Pinellas County Commissioners consider extending last call until 3 a.m.
CLEARWATER: On July 13th the Pinellas County Commissioners have agreed to discuss the issue of amending the countywide ordinance regulating the hours for alcoholic beverages from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. This issue is on the agenda and set for discussion for their July 27th meeting.
In recent months, Pinellas County Commissioners have been receiving many complaints from bar owners. Their main complaint is that since the city of St. Petersburg changed their ordinance to allow bars to remain open and sell alcoholic beverages until 3 a.m., and with Tampa having been that way for years already, it has hurt other pinellas county bars who do not sit within St. Petersburg city limits. Bar owners are complaining that their sales have fallen ever since St. Petersburg has amended their ordinance. The County Commissioners have listened to these complaints, and have now agreed to bring the issue of amending the countywide ordinance up for discussion on July 27th's meeting.
On June 4th, emails were sent out to 23 of the county's municipalities soliciting their opinions on amending the countywide ordinance. As of July 13th, 10 unfavorable responses came back and are in the majority. 6 municipalities had still not responded back.
Among the cities that said yes to amending the ordinance include:
- Gulfport
- Oldsmar
- St. Pete Beach
- South Pasadena
Among the cities that have either said no to amending the ordinance, or have no interest include:
- Belleair
- Belleair Beach *
- Belleair Bluffs
- Clearwater
- Indian Shores
- Indian Rocks Beach
- Kenneth City
- North Redington Beach
- Pinellas Park
- Redington Beach
- Safety Harbor
- Seminole
* Belleair has no interest in the issue since they have no commercial businesses.
Among the cities that have not yet responded back with their answer as of July 13th include:
- Belleair Shores
- Dunedin
- Largo *
- Redington Shores
- Tarpon Springs
* Although Largo had not officially responded back with their opinion as of July 13th, County Commissioners said during a July 6th meeting that Largo would favor amending the ordinance.
The meeting will be held on July 27th at 3:00pm with any public hearing scheduled at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held on the fifth floor Assembly Room of the Pinellas County Courthouse located at 315 Court Street in Clearwater.
For more information, call 727-464-3485 or visit www.pinellascounty.org.
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