ASSEMBLY OVERSIGHT, REFORM AND FEDERAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 4866
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: OCTOBER 17, 2024
The Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4866.
As amended by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 4866 permits restaurants and certain alcoholic beverage retailers and manufacturers to extend their premises to certain outdoor locations. Under the bill, owners and operators of these businesses may be permitted to use outdoor spaces, as defined in the bill, that they own or lease and that are located on their business premises, contiguous to the business premises, or in a non-contiguous location as an extension of their business premises for the purpose of conducting sales of food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages if licensed. The bill provides that alcoholic beverage retailers and manufacturers are to include the holder of a plenary retail consumption license, plenary retail consumption license used in connection with a hotel or motel, seasonal retail consumption license, club license, concessionaire permit, plenary winery license, farm winery license, out-of-State winery license, limited brewery license, restricted brewery license, cidery and meadery license, and craft distillery license.
The bill also allows the owners and operators of those establishments to use public sidewalks, including pedestrian walkways and pedestrian malls, as an extension of their business premises for that purpose.
Under the bill, the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is to issue to the holder of an alcoholic beverage manufacturer license or retail consumption license a premises expansion permit upon application by the license holder. The permit is to entitle the license holder to sell alcoholic beverages in outdoor spaces that they own or lease own or lease and that are located on their business premises, contiguous to the business premises, or in a non-contiguous location as an extension of their business premises. The permit would entitle the license holder to expand the licensed premises to non-contiguous property, provided the property is in reasonable proximity to the licensed premises and the license holder has established safeguards to ensure that alcoholic beverages will be sold and served in accordance with current law. A license holder who obtains a premises expansion permit for contiguous and non-contiguous property would be required to demonstrate that the license holder has a possessory interest and control over the property and is entitled to exercise the same privileges afforded on the existing licensed premises.
The ABC director would transfer the application for premises expansion permit to the municipal clerk and police chief of the municipal governing body in which the manufacturer license or retail consumption license situated. The director would not approve or deny an application until receipt of an endorsement or approval by the appropriate governing body officials. The holder of a temporary expansion permit issued by the ABC director prior to the bill’s enactment would be entitled to convert that temporary permit into a permanent permit issued under the bill.
In addition, the bill requires owners and operators of those establishments seeking to utilize outdoor spaces or public sidewalks as extensions of their business premises to file an application with the municipal zoning officer, including information concerning the use of the outdoor spaces or public sidewalks, as appropriate, pursuant to the requirements provided in the bill.
The installation and continuous use of tents, canopies, umbrellas, tables, chairs, and other fixtures on private property or public property or right of way designated by a municipality are to be a permitted use provided that the tent, canopy, umbrella, table, chairs, or other fixture conforms to all applicable provisions of the State Uniform Construction Code and Uniform Fire Code.
The bill provides that all other municipal ordinances pertaining to sanitation, property maintenance, noise, business days and hours of operation, and days and hours of service of alcoholic beverages are to apply, unless specifically suspended or modified by the municipality or specifically prohibited by the provisions of the bill.
With respect to a restaurant, bar, distillery, or brewery operating in outdoor spaces, a municipality is not to prohibit or limit the days and hours of the outdoor service of food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages, except that municipalities may prohibit or limit operations for the hours after 10:00 p.m. and between 12:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Sundays through Wednesdays, and between 12:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays, with the exception that a municipal ordinance prohibiting or limiting the days and hours of indoor service of food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages, may be applied to the outdoor service of food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages, as a condition of the zoning approval pursuant to the bill. This provision shall not be construed as overruling or prohibiting the authority of a city of the first class to impose more restrictive time restrictions or prohibit or limit the days and hours of the outdoor service of food and beverages.
The bill provides that a municipality may either prohibit or limit the days and hours of any live performances, including musical performances, and the playing or projection of any content from a recording, streaming service or television, cable, or Internet broadcasting service in outdoor spaces or on public sidewalks as a condition of the zoning approval.
Nothing in the bill is to be interpreted or construed as permitting or mandating the opening, expansion, or resumption of unlimited operations of a restaurant, bar, or brewery that is closed, whether permanently or temporarily, or operating subject to limitations on its operations, service, or hours, as a result of disciplinary or legal sanctions imposed by, or entering into a settlement agreement with, a court of the State of New Jersey, a municipal court, the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, or a municipal governing body acting as a local alcoholic beverage control board, as applicable. Further, nothing in the bill permits the use of State-owned rights-of-way for the purposes of outdoor dining. A permit for the use of the State rights-of-way is to be issued upon application and approval of the New Jersey Department of Transportation. For the purposes of locally-owned roads that intersect the State highway system, setbacks from the State right-of-way line will be 50 feet from April 1 to October 31, and 100 feet from November 1 to March 31.
Under the bill, a permit issued to a restaurant, bar, distillery, or brewery with an alcoholic beverage retail license issued by the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in the Department of Law and Public Safety is to renew with that license, provided the legal entity holding the license has not changed. A permit issued to a restaurant without an alcoholic beverage retail license is to renew annually.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
The committee amended the bill to:
(1) allow business owners to use outdoor spaces located on their business premises, contiguous to the business premises, or in a non-contiguous location as an extension of their business premises;
(2) clarify that an extended premises is required to be in reasonable proximity to an alcoholic beverage licensed premises and the license holder has established safeguards to ensure that alcoholic beverages will be sold and served in accordance with current law;
(3) clarify that an alcoholic beverage license holder who obtains a premises expansion permit for contiguous and non-contiguous property is to demonstrate that the license holder has a possessory interest and control over the property and is entitled to exercise the same privileges afforded on the existing licensed premises; and
(4) clarify that a business may extend its premises to pedestrian walkways and pedestrian malls.