Dry New Jersey city votes to finish 120-year ban on alcohol gross sales

Pop the bubbly.

A dry New Jersey city may quickly develop into three sheets nearer to serving booze.

Residents of Haddon Heights — a suburb about 10 miles southeast of Philadelphia that’s devoid of liquor shops and bars — voted Tuesday to repeal a 120-year ban on alcohol gross sales inside city strains.

Voters accepted a poll measure that proposes the sale of liquor at eating places, bars and field shops with 62% in favor and 38% opposed, in keeping with preliminary election outcomes launched by Camden County.

However the poll measure approval doesn’t imply residents can toast with drinks purchased in Haddon Heights simply but.

The mayor and council nonetheless must draft and move laws to formally finish the greater than a century-old prohibition.

However spirits are excessive.

“We might respect the needs if it was overwhelmingly favorable in somehow, sure or no,” Mayor Zachary Houck stated earlier than Election Day, in keeping with CBS Information Philadelphia.

After laws is handed, the method of making use of for and approving liquor licenses would additionally delay any boozy cheers.

And Haddon Heights would solely have the ability to obtain two liquor licenses primarily based on its inhabitants dimension — roughly 7,400 individuals — beneath state legislation, which stipulates one retail liquor license for each 3,000 individuals.

The city is one in every of 30 municipalities in Jersey that don’t permit retail consumption licenses, in keeping with the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Affiliation.