Ohio liquor permit objections decrease

Chart shows year, total decisions, sustained, overrules and percentage sustained:

Restaurant and nightclub liquor permits issued:

Source: Ohio Division of Liquor Control

While two area nightclubs have drawn scrutiny from Dayton and Huber Heights in recent weeks, the number of decisions made on objections to liquor permits in Ohio has decreased 41 percent in the past five years, state data shows.

Dayton and Huber Heights officials have said they are in the process of objecting to the liquor permits of Hammerjax and Heat Nightclub, citing numerous police calls to those clubs. Objections begin a process that can end in a hearing before the Ohio Division of Liquor Control as part of the annual renewal process for the permits, which are the lifeblood of many bar and restaurant operations.

Last week, Huber Heights City Council approved a resolution to authorize an objection to the liquor permit of Heat Nightclub, 6115 Brandt Pike, which the city filed on March 30. Officials said the club has drawn more than 70 police calls since it opened in November 2010.

Early Sunday morning, police responded to an incident at Hammerjax, 111 E. Fourth St. in downtown Dayton, in which a bartender was shot in the back. Police said the bartender was shot as he was walking back into the main entrance shortly before closing time. Dayton police Maj. Larry Faulkner said his department has responded to 82 calls to Hammerjax from Jan. 1, 2011 to present, making the nightclub a problem area. He said he filed paperwork to begin the process of objecting to the Hammerjax liquor permit.

The state made decisions on 63 objections in 2007, and that number dropped to 37 in 2011. The area has mirrored the state’s decrease, with 20 decisions in 2007 for Montgomery and Butler counties and six in 2011 for Montgomery and Warren counties. There were no decisions for Clark, Champaign, Greene and Miami counties in the past five years.

State officials said fewer decisions could be attributed to an increase in communication between local officials and the bar and restaurant community, which can lead to fewer problems or settlements to objections before a hearing. Or, they said, difficult economic conditions might have weeded out some trouble spots.

In Dayton, for which the number of state objection decisions decreased from 20 in 2007 and 2008 combined to six in 2010 and 2011 combined, police say relationships have improved because of its “Bar Safe” program that began three years ago, earning the department national recognition.

The program works to educate bar and restaurant owners to avoid trouble, police calls and liquor permit violations, and department officers were asked to present information about Bar Safe at the 2011 International Problem Oriented Policing Conference.

Faulkner said the program has helped decrease serious assaults downtown by 50 percent since it began.

State and local officials said fewer objection decisions signal safer areas for bars and restaurants, including in Dayton.

Faulkner, who commands the Central Patrol Operations section that includes downtown, said filing a liquor permit objection is a last resort.

“It’s not my job to close bars down,” Faulkner said. “It’s my job to make the bar a safe place for people to go and be part of the community.”

Brent Devery, agent in charge of the Cincinnati District Office of the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Investigative Unit, said Dayton’s efforts are similar to a decade-long statewide program called ASK (Alcohol Server Knowledge). Devery said the program has helped educate permit holders on issues ranging from selling alcohol to already intoxicated patrons to improving lighting to avoid wrongdoing. From 2009-11, ASK presentations drew 688 attendees in Butler, Champaign, Clark, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Warren counties.

“You’re putting them on notice instead of just going after them,” Devery said. “That helps the relationships”

Trouble permit holders will remain, Devery said, but cities have been more successful in challenging permits. Objections were upheld in 54.1 percent of decisions in 2011, up from 42.9 percent in 2007.

Bruce Stevenson, superintendent of the Ohio Division of Liquor Control, said the state relies heavily on evidence when deciding whether to renew a permit. Permit holders must reapply annually.

“We ask, ‘What’s been going on?’ ” Stevenson said. “There can be drug problems, prostitution, violence, sometimes gun violence. We ask, ‘What effect do the activities at these establishments have upon the neighborhood?’ ”

Liquor permits are a significant part of the area’s and state’s economies. There are 2,530 restaurant/nightclub category liquor permits issued in Butler, Champaign, Clark, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Warren counties, which cost those area businesses about $2.6 million. Last year, the state collected $37 million in liquor permit fees, of which $12.9 million was returned to local municipalities.