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Applicant asks Gallatin council to reconsider liquor-distance rule for downtown site
Summary
A prospective liquor store applicant told the committee the city's one-mile distance rule yields inconsistent measurements and asked the council to consider reducing or removing the buffer for business licenses.
On May 27, 2025, a prospective liquor license applicant addressed the City of Gallatin Council Committee seeking a change to the city's distance rules for retail liquor licensing.
Cam Patel, who gave his address as 421 Willis Drive, said he is pursuing a downtown liquor-store location near the jail and a Mapco convenience store and disputed how the city calculates the one-mile spacing requirement. Patel said aerial measurements and driving distances produce different results and described being short by "about point 0.2 mile on on the aerial" while driving distances were over a mile. He cited other liquor stores he said appeared to be closer by aerial measurement than the ordinance measurement allowed.
Patel asked the committee to consider reducing the spacing requirement to a half-mile or removing the distance restriction entirely, and said he was concerned the rule limited opportunities on the north side of town after a nearby liquor store closed. He also raised the cost of opening comparable businesses in the area and said some jurisdictions do not impose spacing restrictions for similar licenses.
Council did not take action on the request during the committee meeting and did not provide an immediate response on whether staff would pursue ordinance changes. Patel spoke without a formal motion recorded in the meeting minutes provided.
