PARK CITY, Utah — Members of Utah's powerful Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission didn't complain when they were asked to show ID before they entered the Boneyard Saloon.
As the group that regularly disciplines bars that fail to perform ID checks, it was only fair.
The DABS Commission visited the licensed bar establishment on Thursday as part of a new effort to get off the Wasatch Front and hear from hospitality industry representatives and liquor licensees directly. Commissioners and DABS staffers also met with restaurateurs like Seth and Casey Adams, who own the popular Riverhorse on Main.
"We're trying to get a bar license today for a new bar we've opened," Seth Adams said.
Asked what could help them be more hospitable to visitors, he added: "Just easing up the laws to help us thrive."
When it came to handing out the highly-coveted bar licenses on Thursday, DABS commissioners appeared unhappy to discover a problem. The population estimates gave them a .9 number to qualify — and commissioners did not feel comfortable rounding up.
"We were under the impression we had a license to give away today and we do not. We are maybe .1 short of a license which is not a full license," said DABS Commission Chair Tara Thue.
Utah hands out bar licenses based on an arbitrary population quota of one per 10,200 people. This year, the Utah State Legislature lowered the quota to free up more licenses — but that law change won't go into effect until July.
"We are expecting it to free up licenses," Thue told FOX 13 News. "I've heard in the realm of 15, based on early calculations. But that's the thing, we don’t want to be relying on estimates, we want solid numbers."
On Thursday, it meant that the eight businesses seeking a bar license had to wait at least another month, maybe longer. But the longer-term policy implications could but the DABS commission back in the same problem the bill sought to fix, with more applicants than licenses available.
"The commission sincerely appreciates the addition of some licenses by decreasing the denominator in the population quota. It means we get more bar and full service restaurant licenses. However, based on our data? We don’t think it’s going to be enough to keep up with demand from businesses in the hospitality space," Thue said.
For communities that rely heavily on tourism like Park City, liquor laws do have a significant impact. Scott House, the vice-president of the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, said the legislature's most recent bill did help them by allowing hotel guests to carry a drink around. He also praised the DABS staff for being a lot more open and accessible.
"What we’ve heard from a lot of our vendors, our partners, our restaurants is the DABS seems way more open to changing policy, listening to those partners, far more approachable in really taking a shift toward modernizing as the state is modernizing," House said.
The DABS is a cash cow for the state of Utah, raking in over a half-billion dollars a year in state-controlled alcohol sales. Crafting policy is usually a careful balancing act between hospitality groups that want to see a loosening of laws to appear more welcoming to international visitors, and social conservatives (including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) who resist it out of concerns for harms from DUIs and youth access to alcohol.
Lawmakers tasked with working on alcohol policy on Utah's Capitol Hill have told FOX 13 News in the past that if they need to address a lack of bar licenses, they can adapt the bill in future sessions. Thue said it is possible this and other issues come back to lawmakers (who pass the policies the DABS enforces) with some major events approaching.
"Prioritizing the needs of the state, the needs of the visitors for the Olympics and other major events like sporting teams, NHL, possibly MLB and others is important to the legislature," she said. "So I think they will make the right change based on the demands of business and industry."
