DeLand, FL – Volusia County won’t allow any clubs that serve alcohol to be open past 2am or allow anyone to have open containers of alcohol just outside of those establishments.
The Volusia County Council approved those separate ordinances unanimously during the morning session of its meeting on Thursday.
The actual vote was 6-0, with District 1 Representative Pat Patterson absent from the meeting.
The ordinances were passed after Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson told the VCC during the meeting that it would help his deputies better control the 3 bottle clubs that currently operate within the unincorporated part of the county, especially what he called “parties” in the parking lot.
A bottle club works like a nightclub in that it charges an entry fee but it’s different in that it allows patrons to bring their own alcohol. That alcohol can be given to whoever runs the business and then served to customers for an additional fee.
Volusia’s 3 bottle clubs are Papi’s Bottle Club on North Nova Road near Daytona Beach, Daytona’s Last Call on North Nova Road near Daytona Beach and Daytona’s RSVP on Hand Avenue near Ormond Beach.
Prior to last Memorial Day weekend, the bottle clubs were allowed to remain open after all other establishments that served alcohol in Volusia were forced to close at 2am. That was changed after Volusia County’s legal department decided that the ordinance in the books also applied to bottle clubs since they held a liquor license from the state of Florida.
Johnson said during Thursday’s meeting that deputies were still finding people drinking past 2am at the bottle clubs, which is why he was supporting the ordinance clarification. Johnson also told the council they’ve had over 900 calls for service at those 3 clubs in the past 3 years.
Papi’s in particular is a spot where deputies are called out regularly to deal with various violent incidents and crimes. A man arrested in Georgia this past May is believed to be the shooter who killed a man in Papi’s parking lot back in 2013.
Daytona Beach police are also investigating the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man on the Oakridge Boulevard bridge this past May that officers believe started with an argument at Papi’s.
It was soon after Deandre Smith’s murder last May 10th that Johnson ordered all 3 bottle clubs to stop allowing its patrons to drink alcohol past 2am or face criminal penalties, basing it on a county ordinance that’s been in the books for some time.
George Lopez – the owner of Papi’s – and several of his family members who work at that bottle club pleaded with the VCC during public comments not to approve the changes, saying that they were being unfairly targeted by Johnson and Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood and that it would impact their business negatively.
Those arguments, however, fell on deaf ears, with District 3’s Deb Denys saying afterwards that the ordinances were meant to curb criminal activity at the clubs, not shut them down.
Bottle clubs will be allowed to stay open past 2am for certain holidays as well as during big racing and motorcycle-related events.
The ordinance on hours of operation doesn’t apply to convenience stores that sell alcohol.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.