Sec. 6-5-315. Major changes to license, licensed premises, or adjacent grounds requiring approval of the Authority.
(a) No licensee shall make any of the following major changes without first obtaining the written approval of the Authority:
(1) Any transfer of the license or any ownership interest in the licensee entity or license;
(2) Any change in location of the licensed premises;
(3) Any change in the licensee’s principals;
(4) The hiring, substitution, resignation, replacement, or termination of the registered manager;
(5) Any change in ownership of any of the stock of the licensee corporation;
(6) Any change in the structure, walls, doors, windows, ventilation, plumbing, electrical supply, floor plan, footprint, elevation, operation, operational plan, patios, decks, safe or vault, locks, surveillance system, doors, window coverings, or security system at the licensed premises;
(7) Any material change to the adjacent grounds, including but not limited to lighting, parking, traffic flow-through and the adjacent grounds, surfaces, landscaping, fences, speakers, or sound; and
(8) Any material change in or deviation of the operation from the operational plan submitted at the time that the license was approved.
(b) The Authority shall require a public hearing before approving any change of location.
(c) The Authority may summarily approve all other proposed major changes or hold a public hearing on the same, in the Authority’s discretion, depending on how substantial the change appears to be and whether the proposed change is likely to cause any substantial harm to public health, safety, or welfare.
(d) At any hearing regarding any of the foregoing major changes, the Authority shall determine whether the proposed change would probably cause substantial harm to public health, safety or welfare or result in a violation of any law or regulation. If the Authority finds that the major change will probably not cause substantial harm to public health, safety or welfare or result in a violation of any law or regulation, it shall approve the major change. If the Authority finds that the proposed major change would probably harm public health, safety or welfare or result in a violation of any law or regulation, the Authority may either disapprove the proposed major change or impose conditions on the license.
(e) No application for transfer of ownership, transfer of location, or other major change may be applied for or acted upon while any complaint for sanctions is pending with the Authority or the state.
(f) The transfer of a license to a new owner does not constitute a new license. The transferee of a license or ownership interest in a license takes transfer of such license or interest subject to the conditions, waivers, history, record, and sanctions imposed on that license under the previous ownership of the license. The fact that the license is owned by new persons or entities shall not preclude the Authority from considering the history, record, and past sanctions imposed on the license under previous ownership when the Authority considers new sanctions for violations committed under new ownership of the license. (Ord. 1348, 2011; Ord. 1463 §4, 2018)