One resident at the Royal City Commission meeting Monday night expressed concerns that the city is allowing too many liquor licenses and is no longer known as a family city. He wasn't alone in his opposition to a proposal for a microbrewery.
His comments were delivered as the City Commission approved rezoning that opens the way for a 13,000 square-foot brewery and a 77-seat tasting room on E. Lincoln, just off of Main Street.
Commissioner Peggy Goodwiin told WDIV's Hank Winchester: "It's about balance in our community and to keep adding liquor licenses is not a balanced community."
Downtown Royal Oak has long been known as a popular entertainment district that is chock full of restaurants and bars.
The question the city faces: How many liquor licenses are enough? How many is too many?
Alex Schnaider, 56, one of about 50 residents who signed a petition of protesting the brewery, tells the Detroit Free Press that it's not neighborhood compatible.
“We already have a downtown full of bars, and there’s more coming," he said before the meeting. " We get drunks crashing into parked cars, yelling at night, they leave bottles and trash” — problems the brewery would increase. "
Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison defends the rezoning, telling WDIV it's essentially compatable with the neighborhood.
