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The City of LaGrange has approved two ordinances to limit the locations of package stores within the city.

In separate ordinances, the city council approved measures to place distance requirements between liquor stores and residential properties along with daycare facilities and limiting the zoning designations where they can be located.

The first ordinance will require a minimum distance between retail package stores and residential properties. No licenses will be issued for package stores located within 750 feet of a private residence.

The ordinance also added daycares to the list of places package stores cannot be within 600 feet of. Package stores are also not allowed to be near schools, churches, alcohol treatment centers or housing authority units. 

The ordinance was approved 5-1, with only Councilman Mark Mitchell voting against the measure. Mitchell said afterward that he voted no because the previous package stores in LaGrange weren’t under the same restrictions, and he believes the rule won’t help anything.

The second ordinance limits new package stores to Activity Center Mixed-Use (AC-MX) zoning designations. The new ordinances do not affect current package stores within the city, which are grandfathered into older regulations. The grandfathered permitting will also be transferred to subsequent owners, so long as the locations do not lapse, being a package store for more than 12 months.

The second ordinance was also approved 5-1, this time with Councilman Nathan Gaskin as the sole vote against the measure. 

When questioned about the no vote afterward, Gaskin simply said he had voted no for political reasons and did not elaborate.

Both ordinances stopped short of previously discussed regulations that would have limited the total number of package stores within the city.