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Developers wanting to open a liquor store in Lansing will face new restrictions after City Council members voted yesterday to limit the proximity of liquor stores to one another.
Under the ordinance, a new liquor store would not be allowed to open within 2,500 feet of another.
The ordinance defines a liquor store as a retail store where at least half of gross sales come from alcohol, tobacco products, vapor products and alternative nicotine products. The city currently has nearly 50 liquor stores.
Lansing resident and regular meeting attendee Ivan Droste said the change was necessary to prevent areas of the city from becoming oversaturated with liquor stores.
“They tend to concentrate together because they are toxic to the surrounding environment,” Droste said. “Nobody wants to live near a liquor store. No one wants to open a business near a liquor store.”
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said the ordinance is “tremendously important” and thanked City Council members for taking action.
The move was partially inspired by the state approving the transfer of two liquor licenses from now-closed Rite Aid locations to Advanced UZP, which City Council members opposed.
State Sens. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, and Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, introduced legislation last year that would require local approval of a liquor license before the Michigan Liquor Control Commission grants one. That legislation has yet to be voted out of committee.
“This is something that we’ve been talking about for a long time, fighting at the state, and you all just took an action that I thought was tremendously impressive,” Schor said.
