[Adopted 1-1-1982 by Ord. No. 81-12
as Ch. V of the 1982 Recodification]
This article is enacted for the purpose of regulating
the sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the Borough
of East Rutherford, in the County of Bergen, in accordance with the
provisions of N.J.S.A. 38:1-1 et seq. and in accordance with the rules
and regulations issued or to be promulgated by the State Director
of Alcoholic Beverage Control applicable thereto.
All applications for licenses under this article
and all licenses issued thereunder and proceedings in connection therewith
shall be subject to N.J.S.A. 33:1-1 et seq. and said rules and regulations
of said State Director of Alcoholic Beverage Control of New Jersey
applicable thereto and shall be subject to any other statutes of New
Jersey or of the United States, now extant or hereafter enacted, affecting
said subject matters.
A.
The Borough Council of the Borough of East Rutherford,
being the governing body of said municipality, shall constitute the
authority for the administration of issuance of licenses under this
article and shall forthwith report the issuance of all such licenses
to said State Director of Alcoholic Beverage Control. No licenses
shall be issued except after written application presented by the
proposed licensee, upon forms approved by the governing body, and
after conformity with publication of notice and otherwise as required
by said Act.
B.
No license shall be issued to any person, firm, corporation,
group or partnership not fully qualified under the provisions of said
Act and said rules and regulations.
It shall be unlawful to sell or distribute alcoholic
beverages in the borough without a license previously applied for
and granted in pursuance of the provisions of said Act.
All applications for licenses shall set forth
in full answers to questions prescribed by law and by the rules and
regulations of said State Director and shall include declarations
called for by said provisions. "Weekdays" is hereby defined as the
days of Monday through and including Saturday. Sunday is the only
day which is not considered a weekday.
Any and all written objections and petitions
filed protesting against the issuance of any alcoholic beverage license
or the granting of a license transfer shall be dated and signed after
the first advertisement of the notice of application has been published.
All licenses shall be for a term of one year
from the first day of July in each year, and all fees shall be paid
in advance upon presentation of the application; provided, however,
that any licensee, except a seasonal retail consumption licensee,
who shall voluntarily surrender his license and who shall not have
committed any violation of this article or of any rules or regulations
and who shall have paid all taxes, setoffs or counterclaims that may
have become due to the State of New Jersey or to the Borough of East
Rutherford shall be entitled, after deduction of 50% of said fee,
as a surrender fee to the prorated fee for the unexpired term.
Licenses shall not be transferable, except in
the manner provided for by the provisions of the aforesaid Act.
A.
No license for the sale of alcoholic beverages in
the Borough of East Rutherford of any category, as the same are set
forth and defined in N.J.S.A. 33:1-1 et seq., shall be hereinafter
issued for or transferred to premises within a five-hundred-foot radius
of the premises for which any category of license for the sale of
alcoholic beverages is outstanding. Said five-hundred-foot radius
shall be measured in the normal way that a pedestrian would properly
walk from the nearest entrance of the licensed premises to the nearest
entrance of the premises sought to be licensed; provided, however,
that this section shall not prevent the renewal of licenses for presently
licensed premises or the person-to-person transfer of any licenses
where such licensed premises are located within a five-hundred-foot
radius of any other licensed premises.
B.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article, the
governing body of the Borough of East Rutherford may issue or transfer
a license for the sale of alcoholic beverages of any category, as
the same are set forth and defined in N.J.S.A. 33:1-1 et seq., within
a five-hundred-foot radius of the premises for which a license for
the sale of alcoholic beverages of any category is outstanding, if
extraordinary and exceptional circumstances necessitate an exception
to the five-hundred-foot radius limitation. Exceptions to the five-hundred-foot
radius limitation will only be granted upon approval of four members
of the governing body of the Borough of East Rutherford.
A.
Plenary retail consumption license. The fee for a
plenary retail consumption license shall be $1,036.80, and the holder
of such license shall be entitled, subject to rules and regulations,
to sell for consumption on the licensed premises any alcoholic beverages
by the glass or other open receptacles and also to sell all alcoholic
beverages in original containers for consumption off the licensed
premises. The issuance of plenary retail consumption licenses shall
be limited to 23 applicants who have duly qualified.
[Amended 4-18-1989 by Ord. No. 89-8; 4-10-1990 by Ord. No. 90-7; 5-21-1991 by Ord. No. 91-06; 8-18-1992 by Ord. No. 92-14; 5-18-1993 by Ord. No. 93-14; 5-17-1994 by Ord. No. 94-3]
B.
Plenary retail distribution license. The fee for a
plenary retail distribution license shall be the sum of $900, and
the holder of such license shall be entitled, subject to rules and
regulations, to sell any alcoholic beverages for consumption off the
licensed premises, but only in original containers. The issuance of
plenary retail distribution licenses shall be limited to five applicants
who have duly qualified.
[Amended 4-18-1989 by Ord. No. 89-8; 4-10-1990 by Ord. No. 90-7; 5-21-1991 by Ord. No. 91-06; 8-18-1992 by Ord. No. 92-14; 5-18-1993 by Ord. No. 93-14; 5-17-1994 by Ord. No. 94-3; 2-21-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-03]
C.
Club license.
(1)
The annual fee for a club license shall be the sum
of $100, and the holder of such license shall be entitled, subject
to rules and regulations, to sell only to bona fide club members and
their guests alcoholic beverages intended for immediate consumption
on the licensed premises.
(2)
Club licenses shall be issued only to such corporations,
associations and organizations as are operated for benevolent, charitable,
fraternal, social, religious, recreational, athletic or similar purposes
and not for private gain, and such licenses shall be subject to the
qualifications, conditions and restrictions imposed by said State
Director of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
(3)
Each application for a club license shall set forth
the names and addresses of all officers, trustees, directors or other
governing officials of the applying club, corporation or association
D.
The fee for a hotel/motel license shall be $1,209.60.
[Added 4-10-1990 by Ord. No. 90-7; amended 5-21-1991 by Ord. No. 91-6; 8-18-1992 by Ord. No. 92-14; 5-18-1993 by Ord. No. 93-14; 5-17-1994 by Ord. No. 94-3]
A.
Licensed premises may be open:
[Amended 12-17-1996 by Ord. No. 96-29; 11-21-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-25]
(1)
On Monday through Thursday from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00
a.m. of the following day.
[Amended 6-18-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-09]
(2)
On Friday and Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.
of the following day.
[Amended 6-18-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-09]
(3)
On Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. of the following
day.
(4)
On December 25 and January 1, the premises may remain
open until 4:00 a.m.
(5)
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this § 95-11A, any part of the licensed premises lying outside of a building shall close no later than 10:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday night and 11:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The remainder of the business conducted under the applicable license within a building may be open as otherwise provided in this § 95-11.
[Added 7-15-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-13]
B.
The hours referred to in Subsection A shall be determined with reference to the prevailing time, that is, standard time or daylight saving time, whichever shall be in effect on the day in question.
[Amended 10-16-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-12]
C.
During the hours sales of alcoholic beverages are
prohibited, all window and door curtains on any premises licensed
hereunder shall be maintained in a fully raised position so that the
public may have clear, unimpeded vision into the interior of such
premises.
D.
During the hours hereinabove set forth when the sale,
service, delivery or consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited,
all licensed premises operating under a plenary retail consumption
license, except hotels, bowling alleys and restaurants, as hereinafter
defined, must likewise be closed, and the licensee shall allow no
person other than employees to remain upon the licensed premises.
In hotels, bowling alleys and restaurants, as hereinafter defined,
and in clubs entitled under the law and the state rules and regulations
to club licenses, the room in which the alcoholic beverages are kept
for sale, commonly known as the "barroom," must likewise be kept closed
and securely locked during such prohibited time, and the licensee
and any of his or its employees or any other person shall not be allowed
to enter therein. In a restaurant, as hereinafter defined, having
no room commonly known as a "barroom" but having a bar located within
the room in which the food is served, the bar, during such prohibited
time, must be completely screened by an open grill of not more than
three-inch mesh or open ironwork approved by the Mayor and Council
to a height of not less than four feet above the level of the bar,
and all approaches to said bar must be securely locked. A "restaurant"
under this section shall be construed and is defined to be an establishment
regularly and principally used for the purpose of providing meals
to the public, having an adequate kitchen and dining room kept for
the purpose of preparing, cooking and serving of food, and in which
dining room food is served at tables by waiters other than the person
known as the "bartender."[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection E, regarding the sale of
alcoholic beverages on Sundays, added 4-18-1983 by Ord. No. 83-6,
which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 2-21-2017
by Ord. No. 2017-02.
A.
Any person, except an officer or other person authorized
by and acting pursuant to instructions of said officer, so doing in
the course of and for the purpose of enforcing said act, who shall
knowingly purchase, receive or procure any illicit beverage shall
be guilty of violating this article.
B.
Any person who shall sell or distribute any alcoholic
beverages or who shall own, possess or keep in said Borough of East
Rutherford alcoholic beverages with intent to sell or distribute alcoholic
beverages or who shall aid or abet another in the sale or distribution
of alcoholic beverages without complying with the requirement of this
article shall be guilty of a violation of this article.
A.
Any license issued under this article may be suspended
or revoked for violation of any of the provisions of this article
or any of the provisions of said act or said statutes heretofore mentioned
or of any of the regulations and rules prescribed by said State Director
of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
B.
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of East Rutherford
further reserve the right to alter or amend this article and to make
such rules and regulations as from time to time shall be deemed necessary
and proper, and all licenses issued hereunder shall be subject to
such rules and regulations, and all licenses hereafter issued shall
be revocable for violations of such further rules and regulations;
provided, however, that such further rules and regulations shall be
consistent with the laws of the state.
C.
Proceedings for suspension or revocation shall be
in accordance with the provisions of said Act, by service of a five-day
notice of charges preferred against the licensee, as provided in said
Act, and affording of a reasonable opportunity for a hearing, and
such suspension or revocation shall carry the penalties and prohibitions
provided for in said Act.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed
to permit the licensing of any person, firm, corporation, group or
partnership to conduct or maintain a business for the sale of alcoholic
beverages on property within the territorial limits of the Borough
of East Rutherford, contrary to any zoning ordinance in force in the
said borough,[1] or any amendments thereof or supplements thereto now or
hereafter enacted.
