Council rejects ordinance to expand 300-foot restriction on new liquor licenses after hours of public-health testimony

The Madison Common Council voted 16–4 on July 1, 2025, to reject a proposed ordinance that would have expanded a 300-foot geographic restriction on new Class A and Class B alcohol licenses to include places of worship (renamed from “church”), entities providing services to people who are unhoused, mental-health treatment facilities and other alcohol licenses.

Public-health staff presented data linking alcohol outlet density to higher rates of binge drinking, alcohol-related crashes, overdose contribution, and long-term health harms. City health officials said Dane County has near 350 alcohol-related crashes recorded from January 2024 through May 2025 (four recorded as fatal in their map), that county-level alcohol-related deaths have increased for years, and that an earlier economic estimate put the annual cost of binge drinking in Dane County at about $398 million.

Health department presenters also described a local licensing map showing 510 Class B (on-premise) licenses and 134 Class A (off-premise) licenses in Madison and explained the state-level prohibition that currently bars new licenses within 300 feet of a public or parochial school, hospital, church and library unless a…