A. A liquor license shall be purely a personal privilege and shall not be transferable. A license shall be good for not exceeding the calendar year in which it is issued unless sooner revoked for cause as provided by law. A license may be issued to a person, a partnership or a corporation.
B. If a partnership is changed during a calendar year by adding a new partner, the existing license shall terminate. However, if a partnership is changed during a calendar year by deleting any partner, the license shall continue. If five percent (5%) or more of the stock of a closed corporation is transferred in any manner during a calendar year to another owner who is not listed as a stockholder on the last annual application for license, the license shall terminate. If twenty percent (20%) or more of the stock of a publicly held corporation is transferred in any manner during a calendar year to another owner who is not listed as a stockholder on the last annual application for license, the license shall terminate. However, if any stock of any corporation is transferred in any manner during a calendar year to another owner who is listed as a stockholder on the last annual application for license, the license shall continue; however, if the new owner owned less than five percent (5%) of the stock of a closed corporation on the last annual application for license and the ownership is increased to exceed five percent (5%), then said owner shall be investigated and fingerprinted by the police department.
C. Except as provided in subsections 4-4-5B and C of this chapter, there shall be no apportioning of the fee for fractions of a year, nor shall there be any refund in cases of revocation of the license. All license fees are due and payable July 1 of each calendar year, and it shall be unlawful for any place of business wherein alcoholic liquor is sold or offered for sale, or kept for sale, to be open to the public until the fee is paid and license issued.
D. No interpretation or construction of this provision shall prohibit the proration of the fee for a special four A.M. liquor license when the applicant's liquor establishment was annexed to the city of Des Plaines during the year for which the applicant applied. (Ord. M-19-13, 10-7-2013)