To drink or not to drink. That's the ballot question in Ventnor.
VENTNOR, N.J. - It's not exactly a "dry" town, like nearby Ocean City. And while this Atlantic County beach town bordering Atlantic City has nine liquor stores and restaurant patrons are welcome to bring their own beer and wine, there are no restaurants here that sell and serve alcoholic beverages.
VENTNOR, N.J. - It's not exactly a "dry" town, like nearby Ocean City.
And while this Atlantic County beach town bordering Atlantic City has nine liquor stores and restaurant patrons are welcome to bring their own beer and wine, there are no restaurants here that sell and serve alcoholic beverages.
But that could change if voters Tuesday approve a binding ballot question that would permit the sale of liquor at restaurants in Ventnor. Based on the town's year-round population of 10,600, three such licenses would be sold to the highest bidder, according to Mayor Beth Holtzman.
Under the measure, the town would still not allow stand-alone bars, taverns, or clubs. Depending on the size of the restaurant obtaining the license, it may be allowed to create a limited-seat bar inside the establishment, officials said.
If the referendum passes, it would stay in place for at least five years before another referendum could reverse it, Holtzman said.
The mayor, who was first elected earlier this year, said the idea to put the question on the ballot came during her campaign, when she and her running mates posed an "Imagine Ventnor" concept. In response, she said, resident after resident brought up the issue of restaurants selling alcohol.
"It was overwhelming. . . . Everybody asked about that," Holtzman said. "They didn't ask for lower taxes; they asked about being able to order a drink when they go out for dinner. We were surprised."
So when Holtzman took office May 17, along with her running mates, Lance Landgraf Jr. and Tim Kriebel, who were named city commissioners, officials had exactly one month to file the paperwork with the Atlantic County Board of Elections to get the referendum on the ballot.
If the measure passes, the town would likely sell - via auction - at least one of the licenses before the summer. Officials have not decided the parameters of the sale nor a minimum price to open the bidding.
The city wasn't required to submit a petition to put forth the referendum - because the town's governing body is allowed to ask voters ballot questions during a general election - but it acquired and certified with the city clerk a petition with 301 signatures, the amount required by law if it had not been a general election.
The city had offered referendums on the ballot two previous times, and both measures were defeated.
"We did the petition as a kind of outreach to keep the community involved in the process," Holtzman said.
And while there have been a few negative comments circulated on social media and among residents, officials and local restaurateurs say the mostly positive response from the public has continued to be overwhelming.
"People come here and - especially if they are from out of the area - always want to know why they can't order a margarita or a beer with their meal," said Guadalupe Terrones, who owns Isabella's Ventnor Café, a Mexican bistro on South Portland Avenue. "If it passes, I think it will be a good thing, better for business here, if the restaurants here could serve liquor. . . . People want it."
New Jersey alcohol-consumption regulations include a complex network of licensing overseen by the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which is a branch of the Attorney General's Office. The ABC, as it is known, has created a veritable vegetable soup of licensure - with as many as 29 distinct liquor licenses that govern manufacturing, wholesaling, transportation, warehousing, and retailing alcoholic beverages in the state.
But under the state's home-rule stance, local municipalities have retained substantial leeway in deciding regulations about the sale and consumption of alcohol within their own borders. And so the availability of liquor varies substantially from town to town across the state.
While there are a few "dry" towns - like Ocean City, in Cape May County, which was founded as an anti-liquor religious camp-meeting in the late 1800s and which to this day prohibits the sale and public consumption of alcohol anywhere in its barrier island community - most municipalities in New Jersey offer some alcoholic beverage sales.
Ventnor - next door to Atlantic City, with that resort's raucous history of rumrunners and the skirting of Prohibition-era laws - apparently succumbed to early 1900s temperance pressures and ceased to issue new liquor licenses. Ventnor then began marketing itself as a health retreat, and by 1910 the place with the last bar in town - the 400-room Carisbrooke Inn - was torn down.
And while it certainly has a nice beach and a fair stock of summer vacation homes, Ventnor subsequently evolved as a diversely populated, quieter, year-round bedroom community to more boisterous Atlantic City, even welcoming - as Ocean City did - religious societies for summer retreats.
Now officials contend that to compete with other Jersey Shore resorts, Ventnor needs to step up the game when it comes to dining - and drinking.
"Both tourists and people who own homes here want to have easy access to fine dining when they are here," Holtzman said. "That goes hand in hand with a resort experience, so we think that for future economic development for Ventnor, this is a piece of the puzzle that we need."
And while no formal anti-liquor campaigns have been mounted, some residents disagree.
"I have concerns that the town could get a little noisier, a little more crazy in the summer," said Anita Selvig, 72, who moved to Ventnor 10 years ago from Philadelphia. "You never know how something like this could affect the character of Ventnor."
Others contend the move could prove to be positive.
That includes Tom Brennan, who opened the 38-seat Cardinal Bistro on Ventnor Avenue last spring. He says, whether or not he opts to bid on one of the licenses, the measure will help all businesses in the town. Restaurants without a liquor license would still be able to allow patrons to bring their own wine or beer even if the referendum passes. No restaurants are now - or will be - permitted to allow customers to bring hard liquor into their establishments to be served BYOB style.
"Communities all around us have restaurants with liquor licenses and that puts some of those restaurants at a competitive edge over us," Brennan said. "I think that to continue to attract business to Ventnor, we need this."
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