BYOB advocates deliver petition to Ocean City clerk
OCEAN CITY - Proponents of allowing customers to bring their own bottle of wine or beer to restaurants in this historically alcohol-free Jersey Shore resort delivered a petition containing 583 signatures to the city clerk on Thursday afternoon that, if certified, would mean a question would be placed on the November ballot about whether to allow such imbibing in public.
OCEAN CITY - Proponents of allowing customers to bring their own bottle of wine or beer to restaurants in this historically alcohol-free Jersey Shore resort delivered a petition containing 583 signatures to the city clerk on Thursday afternoon that, if certified, would mean a question would be placed on the November ballot about whether to allow such imbibing in public.
BYOB, and the sale of alcohol of any kind, has never been allowed in this Cape May County town, founded in 1879 as a Methodist camp meeting resort by the Lake brothers.
The Ocean City Restaurant Association's aggressive campaign to allow BYOB was not the first effort to alter the local ordinance. But it may be the most successful, possibly garnering enough signatures to put the question to voters.
The city clerk's office will have 20 days to verify the signatures. The group needed 498 signees - 10 percent of the voters who participated in the last election - but obtained 583, according to Jeff Sutherland, a lawyer representing the restaurant owners.
Sutherland said the group had until Monday to collect the signatures, but wanted to present the petition before the legal deadline to give the clerk ample time to review it.