Fort Lauderdale may lift booze ban on sand for hotel guests

FORT LAUDERDALE — For practically 4 a long time, Fort Lauderdale has had a ban on booze at the beach front — the sandy part, in any case. But there’s now chat of allowing for liquor income on the sand calendar year-round.

Not everybody would by permitted to sip cocktails by the sea.

To indulge your responsible enjoyment, you’d require to be a resort guest or lease a seaside lounge chair.

Hotels by itself — no bars, no eating places — would be authorized to promote all these chardonnays and pina coladas, from Bahia Mar south of Las Olas all the way to Sunrise Boulevard. Customers would also be in a position to get foods from the hotel menu and have it shipped right to their lounge chair.

Lodges together A1A are pushing the prepare, but some locals assume it is a negative strategy.

“Most people will not drink just one drink — they’ll consume two, three or 4,” claimed Warren Sackler, a resident who lives a block from the seaside. “There’s absolutely heading to be much more drama if you allow men and women drink on the seaside. The police really don’t like babysitting and they are likely to have to offer with this.”

At the time upon a time, in the course of the raunchy heydays of Spring Break, Fort Lauderdale permitted the sale of booze on the beach front.

That ended 37 many years back, when metropolis leaders banned alcoholic drinks on the beach, hoping to appeal to a more nicely-heeled clientele.

Now, fines assortment from $50 (for initially-time offenders) to $500 (for repeat offenders) if you get caught with a chilly one on the sand.

Motels along the strip are gung-ho about the thought of providing liquor to company whilst they bury their toes in the sand for a single cause: It is great for company.

Staying served subsequent to the surf is only some thing today’s advanced traveler has come to expect, reported Tamas Vago, standard manager of the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Vacation resort.

“Many guests come to feel that is element of the resort knowledge,” Vago mentioned. “In the previous 15 several years, Fort Lauderdale has long gone from a Spring Crack destination to a world-course desired destination. We have high-conclude, 5-star inns going up on the seashore. We are attracting a increased caliber guest who wishes that practical experience. In hospitality we always attempt to satisfy our guests’ demands, simply because we want them to arrive back.”

Some very well-traveled attendees have been stunned to discover they just can’t get a chilled glass of wine on the seaside, explained Mazen Saleh, typical manager of the Four Seasons Resort and Residences.

“Staying at a five-star vacation resort property, they’ll say, ‘What do you indicate I can’t get a salad on the beach? What do you necessarily mean I can not take pleasure in a glass of wine if I’m sitting on the beach front?’” he mentioned.

Former Mayor Jim Naugle states Fort Lauderdale experienced superior cause to ban booze on the beach back again in 1985.

“There was a good deal of underage consuming and rowdiness,” he claimed. “There were being beer cans and litter all over the beach front. But situations adjust. We really do not have Spring Break anymore, not like it was in the 1980s. The rooms are high priced now. It is not like Panama Metropolis.”

The approach would possible get underway later on this yr, but only if it will get a nod from metropolis leaders.

Commissioners are anticipated to vote on the proposal in mid-August, with a remaining vote set for September.

[ RELATED: Spring Break crowd storms Fort Lauderdale beach — COVID or not ]

Beachfront resorts would have to get a permit from the metropolis ahead of they could provide consumers on the sand. Services would most likely be confined to sure hrs, say from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mayor Dean Trantalis and all four commissioners embraced the idea all through a City Hall conference in early July, declaring it would assist Fort Lauderdale hotels compete in a hard market.

“I imagine our level of competition transpires to be beaches in other countries that do supply related solutions,” Trantalis reported. “When persons occur to travel in this article from Turkey or Greece or Italy and Spain that have these facilities, I imagine a whole lot of folks compare that working experience to our experience.”

But the mayor manufactured it obvious he does not want to see people walking down the seaside with their food stuff and drinks.

“The alcoholic beverages and food stuff has to be consumed at that chair,” Trantalis claimed. “If you want to consider your filthy martini to the shoreline, you just can’t.”

That a person rule is compact consolation to nearby citizens who have arrive up with a extended record of downsides to allowing booze on the beach front, explained Monthly bill Brown, president of the Central Seashore Alliance community affiliation.

Request what could potentially go mistaken and they’ll convey to you.

“I really don’t have any professionals,” stated seashore resident Paula Yukna. “I have a whole ton of drawbacks. Allowing for liquor on the beach front is heading to bring a great deal of issues. Who’s heading to check out ID? What if they purchase liquor and hand it out to their 16-calendar year-old buddies? Who is heading to stop people from getting up and going for walks down the seashore? If they consume far too considerably and go in the ocean, the lifeguards will be responsible for preserving them.”

[ RELATED: Fort Lauderdale’s little secret: We’ve got rats and they’re dining like ‘kings and queens’ ]

Serving persons on the beach front will also provide much more litter, Brown reported. Much more litter signifies much more rats — and additional pigeons and seagulls swooping down for scraps.

Then there’s the problem of fairness.

“You’re telling me I just cannot provide my cooler [of beer] to the beach front when the male up coming to me is having served just mainly because he’s at a resort?” Brown mentioned. “What about the dining places and bars? Why aren’t they permitted to provide?”

Fantastic query, stated Peter Ricci, hospitality application director at Florida Atlantic College.

“The idea in thought is fantastic,” he mentioned. “It’s a good detail for the economic climate and the readers. But I believe it’s a little brief-sighted to only include things like the inns. I believe it’s a small unfair and biased.”

As a previous typical supervisor for lodges in Sarasota, Clearwater and Jacksonville, Ricci recalls company becoming served meals and beverages on the sand.

“Every town I worked in permitted drinks at the beach,” Ricci said. “I normally considered Fort Lauderdale was as well rigorous.”

Tim Petrillo, proprietor of the common Casablanca Cafe, suggests not all dining places have the workers to handle extra service on the seaside.

“I really do not know how the other [bars and restaurants] would really feel,” he explained. “But I simply cannot randomly assign a server to serve food and drinks more than on the beach front.”

Petrillo, who also serves as chairman of the Broward County Tourism Coalition Council, suggests he understands the drive by superior-conclusion resorts to be extra competitive.

“I do feel we want to have a aggressive sector for tourism,” he said. “A lot of people get staycations. When you check out Fort Lauderdale, you assume to be capable to order a cocktail when you are gazing at the sea.”

[ RELATED: A day at the beach: How to save money on parking, food & rentals on our South Florida shores ]

Dan Lindblade, president of the Bigger Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, says the time is right to make a transform.

“If you’re expending that a great deal cash on a resort space, you are expecting the fine features of a luxurious resort,” he reported. “You never want to be tied to sitting up at the pool deck to purchase food items and drinks.”

It’s too before long to say no matter whether bars and places to eat need to also be allowed to provide patrons on the sand, Lindblade explained.

As for the critics fretting around rats, pigeons and litter, Lindblade waved absent their objections.

“We previously have rats and litter,” he claimed. “The inns are likely to be in cost of grooming their places and cleansing up. These are all tempest-in-a-teapot scenarios. It is a huge change. Any time there’s a alter, there is normally naysayers.”

Susannah Bryan can be attained at [email protected] or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan