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Council approves liquor license language changes, new D14 class for museum winery, late‑night permits and administrative updates
Summary
The committee approved code updates to allow credit card licensing payments via SmartGov, created a new D14 liquor license class for museum‑linked, limited retail/off‑premise sales, approved a D14 for the St. Charles Motorcycle Museum & Art Gallery, granted 26 late‑night permits and corrected the date of a community 5K.
City staff and the Liquor Control Commission brought several linked liquor-license and administrative items to the Government Operations Committee and the committee approved amendments and permits addressing electronic payments, license classifications, late-night operation hours and a date correction for a permit.
Director/Chief Majewski explained the administrative change to the licensing ordinance, telling the committee the city now uses the online licensing portal SmartGov and that "credit card payment is now available" and the payment language in the code needed updating. The committee voted to update payment language to allow payment through the portal; staff said fees would be passed through to applicants rather than absorbed by the city.
The committee then moved to amend the D10 liquor-license classification by removing the word "museum". That change was discussed as a precursor to creating a new license class. The Council then approved a new D14 license classification to codify the retail sale and on‑premise consumption ancillary to museum entertainment services, limited so alcohol sales occupy no more than 10% of the business area.
The committee approved a D14 application for a local business — Mogo Art Bar, Inc., doing business as St. Charles Motorcycle Museum and Art Gallery — that had earlier been provided a D10 accommodation. Staff said the museum’s alcohol would be specially produced and labeled for the business and that off‑premise package sales would be limited to that specially labeled product and permitted only to patrons attending the museum event. As staff put it, the off‑site sale would be "ancillary to the museum event," and ordinance language will be tightened in the final version to reflect that operational restriction.
Separately, the committee approved 26 late‑night permit applications: 16 for Class B (restaurant) licensees and 10 for Class C (tavern) licensees. Staff said the city reviewed safety, outstanding issues and prior violations and reported only one recent fine (Liquor and Wine) among the applicants.
Finally, the committee approved a correction to the date for the Mother's Day 5K (moving it from Sunday to the correct Saturday, May 10) and approved the city’s annual usage of SmartGov for licensing administration.
Actions recorded at the meeting included motions and votes to amend payment language (SmartGov), remove museum from D10 and create D14, approve the individual D14 application for the motor museum, approve late‑night permits, and approve the Mother's Day 5K date correction. Committee members discussed enforcement and the intent that the D14 would not permit general package sales like a liquor store and that compliance checks will continue to be used as an enforcement tool. The committee voted on each item; motions were made and seconded as shown below.
Ending: Staff will finalize ordinance language for the new D14 to make explicit that off‑site packaged sales are ancillary to museum attendance and will return the ordinance language for council consideration.
