https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/food/2024/03/20/salt-lake-city-bakery-is-denied/
Guy wants a liquor license for his bakery. Does $25K in renovations and gets new insurance costing an additional $10K annually, and only after all of that does he bother to see if he can get a liquor license at that location. Turns out he can't, due to an unambiguous law, a measurement you could have taken from Google Earth, and a church (where they fucking mummify people lol) that's been around for 50 years.
The media response to lighting tens of thousands of dollars on fire because you didn't do basic shit involved in running a business? A sympathetic half-puff piece that of course never raises the idea that you could have figured this shit out on a computer in an hour for free, or maybe paid a lawyer a lot less than $35K+ to do the research for you.
Counterpoint: What reasonable person would think "Oh gee, I need to make sure my business isn't too close to a church for it to sell alcohol." What, are all the little old Mormon ladies going to get drunk on the wine vapor wafting across the street?
Yeah these zoning regulations unambiguously suck ass.
Anyone who looks up the requirements for a liquor license
Not to get too into the weeds here - I honestly don't care about the specifics because the regulation is dumb theocratic NIMBYism and I doubt the commission goes out of its way to make it clear - but the proximity is just vaguely listed as something DABS is required to consider. Neither information on their website nor the regulation itself has a distance measurement.
Of all the things you can dunk on a business for, this one seems weird and nitpicky.
https://abs.utah.gov/licenses-permits/applications-renewals/proximity-restrictions/
It's a real rule with the distance requirement plainly spelled out.
"Can I actually get a liquor license for my business" is basic question for a business owner, one you can and should get a firm answer on before dropping $35K. This guy failed at a basic task, blew a ton of money because of it, and the media response is as charitable and forgiving as you can imagine. The fact that this guy sat for an interview to publicize his fuckup speaks to how businesses are treated with kid gloves.
I think it speaks more to how there are a large number of Utahns who resent the administrative state being co-opted by theocratic moralists.