(A) Filing of an application. Each application for an original or renewal license shall be filed with the City Clerk on a form to be provided by the city, signed and sworn to by the applicant. Each application shall be accompanied by a proper remittance reflecting the appropriate license fee made payable to the city.
(B) Bond requirements. Each application for a license shall be accompanied by a bond, to be given to the city in the amount of $1,000 with sufficient sureties, conditioned that the person obtaining such license shall at all times abide by the provisions of the state’s Liquor Control Act, being RSMo. Chapter 311, this chapter, and all other ordinances of the city. Only one bond shall be required under this section from any one person and such bond shall, while in force, cover all licenses held by any one applicant and all classes of sales carried on hereunder. Such bond may be sued on in the name of the city for the use and benefits of any person damaged by the breach of any of the conditions thereof.
(C) Qualifications. Neither the applicant nor any officer, director, or shareholder of a corporate applicant shall have been convicted of a felony or of any distribution, sale, or possession of any controlled substances or dangerous drugs. The applicant shall present with the application a bona fide sale contract or option duly executed, which may be subject to the applicant obtaining a liquor license, or a bona fide lease duly executed by the lessor, or an option for a lease duly executed, subject to the applicant obtaining a liquor license, covering the property for which a liquor license is requested. If the applicant is a corporation, the petition shall set forth all of the above information with respect to the managing officer or officers, identifying such officer or officers. The application shall further state the full name of the corporation, its date of incorporation, its registered agent and registered address, the names and addresses of all shareholders of the corporation, and whether said corporation operates any other business or controls or is controlled by any other corporation or business, and if so, the application shall further state the name of such controlled or controlling corporation or business, its registered agent and registered address, and the location of all businesses operated by it and the name and address of any such businesses with a liquor license, whether within or without the city; and the application shall also state if such controlling corporation or any controlled corporation is doing business under a fictitious name, and the address where said business is located. The Board of Aldermen also may request such additional information of an applicant as it may deem necessary for it to make a determination with respect to the issuance of a liquor license.
(D) Hearing on application. Upon the filing of the application with the Clerk, the Clerk shall fix a date for a hearing before the Board not more than 31 days from the date of filing of the application, and shall give the applicant written notice of the date of the hearing. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with § 113.11.
(1) Location of certain businesses.
(a) Distance from schools and the like. The Board shall consider the location of the proposed business for which a license is sought with respect to its proximity to a school, a church, a public park or playground, and to other places of the character for which a license is sought, and shall have authority to refuse to issue a license when in their judgment the issuance thereof would not be in the best interests of the locality in which the applicant applies for a location of such place. In no event shall the Board approve the issuance of a license for the sale of liquor within 300 feet of any school, church, or other building regularly used as a place of worship unless the applicant for the license shall first obtain the consent in writing of the board of directors of the school, or the consent in writing of the majority of the managing board of the church or place of worship; except that when a school, church, or place of worship shall thereafter be established within 300 feet of any place of business licensed to sell intoxicating liquor, renewal of the license shall not be denied for lack of consent in writing as herein provided.
(b) Licensed premises in residential districts. The Board shall not authorize the issuance of a license under this chapter for the sale of 5% beer, or 3.2% beer for consumption on the premises where sold, within a residential district unless and until the applicant for such a license shall have presented to the Board a petition containing the signatures of 75% of the persons owning the property located within a radius of 300 feet of the proposed licensed premises, consenting to the establishment of such licensed business and the granting of a license therefor; provided however, it shall not be necessary for any person desiring to obtain a renewal of a license of an established place of business within a residential district to obtain such consent.
(2) Findings required for approval. The Board shall approve the application if, after the hearing it finds that:
(a) Issuance of the requested license would be in the best interests of the locality of the proposed business;
(b) The applicant is a person of good moral character, a native born or naturalized citizen of the United States of America, a registered voter, and a taxpaying citizen of the city;
(c) No license theretofore issued to such applicant to sell intoxicating liquors has been revoked within two years of the date of the application;
(d) The applicant has not been convicted since the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of the violation of any law applicable to the sale of intoxicating liquor, or that such applicant has not employed in his or her business any person whose license has been revoked or who has been convicted of violating the provisions of such law since the date aforesaid; and
(e) The applicant plans and proposes to conduct a retail liquor business in compliance with the laws of the state, the ordinances of the city, and the provisions of this chapter.
(E) Application approval. Upon approval of any application for a license, the Clerk shall grant the applicant a license to conduct business in the city for a term to expire on June 30 next succeeding the date of such license, unless such license be revoked or suspended for cause before the expiration of such time.
(F) License renewal. Applications for renewal of licenses must be filed on or before November 1 of each calendar year. Such renewal application shall be reviewed by the Board at its next meeting. Upon approval of the majority of the Board and payment of the license fee provided herein, the Clerk shall renew the license. In the event that any person residing or conducting businesses within 200 feet of the applicant’s place of business shall file a written protest against the renewal of such license, the Board shall conduct a hearing on the application for license renewal as provided in division (D) above.
(Prior Code, § 600.050) (Ord. 95, passed 10-21-1963; Ord. 181, passed 1-20-1976)