Johns Creek open container area could add Six Bridges

Overview

Johns Creek staff want to stretch the Town Center open container area to take in 11455 Lakefield Drive, the building that holds Six Bridges Brewing’s taproom. A draft ordinance would also let breweries, not just restaurants and bars, sell drinks to carry outside. The City Council discusses it at its 5 p.m. work session Monday, Nov. 16. It is not up for a vote that night.

What the city is proposing

The open container area lets people carry one drink from a licensed business onto the streets, sidewalks and plazas inside a set boundary. The city created it in November 2021 for the 192-acre Town Center. That is according to the staff agenda report from Community Development Director Ben Song.

The owner of 11455 Lakefield Drive asked to be included. The report says the building houses Six Bridges Brewing “and other businesses.” Staff said new crosswalks and sidewalk links now join the property to Medley and The Boardwalk Park. They recommend approval.

The draft ordinance goes further than the one property. Its marked-up changes would:

• add breweries and free-standing vendors to the businesses an open container area serves
• let a brewery inside a special district take part in the open container area, where state law allows it
• let breweries, as well as restaurants and bars, pour a drink into a cup for a customer to carry out
• rename the second special district, at the amphitheater in Newtown Park, from “Mark Burkhalter Amphitheater” to “Founders Amphitheater”

The revised boundary map adds one small parcel on the south side of Lakefield Drive, just east of Johns Creek Parkway. The rest of the Town Center boundary is unchanged.

The rules stay the same

The draft keeps the existing limits on what you can carry, word for word:

• one drink per person at a time, and a business can hand out only one to-go drink per person at a time
• 16 ounces at most
• a paper or plastic cup, never a can, bottle or glass
• the drink must come from a licensed business whose entrance is inside the district

Drinking from a can, bottle or glass stays banned on streets, sidewalks and parking lots, public or private.

When it could pass

The item is on the Nov. 16 work session agenda for 30 minutes of discussion. It is not on the 7 p.m. council meeting agenda that night. The draft ordinance is numbered for December, and its adoption date is blank, so the council would adopt it at a later regular meeting.

The work session starts at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 11360 Lakefield Drive. The regular council meeting follows at 7 p.m.

What it means for you

• If you visit Medley or The Boardwalk, nothing changes yet. The current rules apply until the council adopts the ordinance.
• If it passes, a beer bought at a Town Center brewery could be carried out in a cup under the same one-drink, 16-ounce rules as a drink from a restaurant.
• The city posts meeting video and summaries on its meeting records page.