At their April 4, 2002 regular meeting, the Planning Commission deferred action on five conditional use permit applications relating to on-sale alcohol establishments. At the time, South Dakota state law was changing requiring all indoor smoking facilities to have an alcohol license (or smoking would not be allowed).

• It was the task force committee’s mission to address the conditional use permit process and review criteria relating to on-sale alcohol establishment zoning issues and provide recommendation(s) relative to revising city ordinances as necessary to meet the needs of the community.
  

The task force regards the matter of the issuance of on-sale alcohol licenses as a City Council consideration since it is so indicated by City Ordinances.

• Smoking - Although the consensus of the task force was to review this matter as a land use issue, and not as a smoking vs. non-smoking issue, they did review other state laws and their associated smoking laws. A literature review revealed that the issuance of an on-sale alcohol license was not associated with smoking. The categories included in the study include no restrictions, designated smoking areas required or allowed, no smoking allowed or designated smoking ventilated, no smoking allowed (100% smoke free). Planning staff was unable to find another state that tied smoking to on-sale alcohol establishment licenses.

On-sale alcohol establishments would be allowed provided certain criteria are met. Acceptance of these recommendations would help ensure the public’s overall safety, health and welfare as it relates to on-sale alcohol establishment land uses. Once again, the Task Force, as a subcommittee of the City Planning Commission, is only empowered by the City Council to enforce city ordinances relating to land use. The City Council has retained final review and authority over on-sale alcohol licensing laws. Therefore, all issues relative to the State’s  no smoking law as it relates to the issuance of on-sale alcohol licenses are matters strictly within the purview of the City Council and have not been addressed by this Task Force committee.