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Council leans to expand BAR 2022 citywide; microbreweries to return next month
Summary
The council reviewed maps and options for BAR 2022 (a downtown-focused alcohol-use standard), directed staff to prepare a citywide text amendment using the current 2,000-square-foot cap and separation rules, and asked staff to bring the microbrewery item back next month so the two items can be considered together.
Chief Planner Shante Goodby presented maps and analysis at the Greenville Regional City Council workshop showing how changing the BAR 2022 standards would affect eligible properties downtown and citywide. Goodby reviewed scenarios with maximum sizes from 2,000 to 5,000 square feet and explained how separation distances from single-family districts were applied in the citywide maps.
“Series 1 is for the current eligible area right now, and then series 2 is gonna be maps of the citywide area,” Goodby said while walking council through incremental map layers that showed which properties would qualify at different size caps.
Council members debated two primary questions: whether to increase the downtown maximum size for BAR 2022 and whether to allow BAR 2022 uses outside downtown with the same or modified separation rules. Several council members argued against enlarging the downtown size cap now and instead recommended opening BAR 2022 across the entire city with the existing 2,000-square-foot cap and the 500-foot separation from single-family districts, to test whether the policy spurs broader neighborhood opportunities without concentrating more bars downtown.
Goodby and staff provided counts used in the council discussion: at 2,000 square feet the current downtown eligible building count was cited as 65; raising the cap to 3,500 added about 69 more downtown opportunities; other incremental increases produced additional eligible parcels (5,000 square feet produced roughly 171 downtown opportunities in the presentation). On the citywide maps, Goodby said keeping the 2,000-square-foot cap and applying separation rules yielded about 32 candidate properties outside downtown; raising maximum sizes increased those counts (3,000 square feet ~68 properties; 5,000 square feet ~151 properties outside downtown under the presented rules).
Council members also asked about recent BAR 2022 approvals: Goodby noted two downtown projects had been processed under BAR 2022 (one awaiting a liquor component and one nearing opening). Council members discussed enforcement and loitering concerns and asked staff to clarify whether existing loitering and trespass laws and the BAR 2022 security requirements would address off‑premises problems.
Outcome and next steps: Council signaled a preference to expand BAR 2022 citywide using the current 2,000-square-foot cap and the separation distances in staff maps, and directed staff to bring the microbrewery discussion back next month so both items can be considered together as a package. Staff said they will prepare draft text amendments, public-notice materials and larger maps for council review, and return with options for action.
Why it matters: BAR 2022 is the city standard that treats some storefront entertainment venues as a bar use; expanding or enlarging it affects where alcohol-serving entertainment can locate, the mix of downtown uses, and neighborhood impacts such as noise and loitering.
Speakers quoted or summarized are those who spoke on this agenda item in the workshop transcript.
