Committee backs changing ordinance term "church" to "place of worship" to be more inclusive

Assistant City Attorney McReynolds explained a proposed amendment to the municipal ordinance that would replace the word "church" with the broader term "place of worship" in distance restrictions tied to alcohol licensing.

McReynolds said the state statute sets a 300-foot restriction for certain licenses near schools, hospitals and a category the statute labels with the term "church." He told the committee the city has discretion to substitute broader language and recommended the change so the ordinance would include synagogues, mosques and other religious buildings. "So we changed it to place of worship," he said, "to include, you know, other kinds of religious, buildings in our city."

Alder Farley asked whether the ordinance includes a definition of "place of worship," noting that "technically you can worship any place." McReynolds replied that "place of worship" is a commonly used term intended to capture those sorts of buildings without listing every example, and that the change does not add new prohibitions but updates terminology to be inclusive.

The committee moved, seconded, and adopted a recommendation in favor of the ordinance amendment without objection. The motion will be forwarded to the Common Council for final action.

Why it matters: the amendment updates local code language used in alcohol licensing distance restrictions to cover all religious facilities rather than singling out churches by name; it is largely semantic but affects how licensing applicants and staff evaluate proximity to religious institutions.

What's next: the committee's favorable recommendation will be included in the packet sent to the Common Council for final consideration.