The Rockmart City Council reached a rare disagreement during its meeting Tuesday on an agenda item concerning the expansion of business opportunities and investment within city limits – with some restrictions.

By a vote of 4 to 1, a new specialty store ordinance was passed during the monthly regular meeting on August 13 and is now in effect. The vote now gives business owners who qualify and meet certain requirements the opportunity to apply for and receive a permit and license to sell alcoholic beverages within certain limits.

The difference from a liquor store is that the majority of a liquor store’s revenue comes from the sale of liquor in packaging (bottles and cans) that can be taken home and is the main source of income for a store. Taxation by the IRS is handled slightly differently and there are stricter requirements for those who sell liquor in packaging.

They are subject to restrictions on their location, the number of establishments that can be built in an area based on population, and other regulations that govern their operation. In general, there are no restrictions on the sale of bottles and cans, unlike other establishments that are allowed to sell alcohol.

A restaurant’s sales are a better way to see how the city has structured the ordinance. In Georgia, if a restaurant is allowed to sell alcohol, it must limit that sales to a certain percentage of food revenue. Bars, microbreweries and wineries that have tasting rooms also face certain restrictions, but are subject to different restrictions on sales percentages and taxation.

The Specialty Stores Ordinance is designed to provide businesses that wish to sell alcohol with the ability to do so while complying with municipal, county and state laws regulating such sales.

For example, a business owner who wants to offer drinks to his customers during their stay in a hair salon could sell those drinks at a fixed price, but would have to generate the majority of his revenue from the services offered or from hair care products, accessories, jewelry and other products that hair salons typically offer to their customers.

According to City Manager Stacey Smith, the goal of the ordinance is to give business owners looking for new opportunities to look for non-traditional options without being a restaurant or liquor store.

“We see this as another tool the city has to encourage all types of economic development, especially in our downtown area,” Smith said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth around South Marble Street and East Church Street over the last few years and we want to not only continue that growth but give other areas around Rockmart the opportunity to capitalize and find new ways to attract people to our city.”

Council member Rick Stone was the only one to vote against the measure at last week’s meeting.