BOISE - While a governor's committee takes its time revamping Idaho liquor laws, two Valley County establishments are taking their liquor license needs directly to the Legislature.
Tamarack Resort and The Ashley Inn in Cascade are eager for more liquor licenses and both have petitioned the Legislature in Boise for special dispensation.
"This really isn't about liquor," said Tamarack lobbyist and former resort VP Scott Turlington.
"This is about economic development... a liquor license is just another tool in the toolbox."
Senate Bill 1382 would amend state liquor laws for "year-round resorts," a category that appears in state law, but is narrowly targeted to Tamarack.
The bill passed the Senate State Affairs Committee unanimously Monday and went quickly to the Senate floor, where it passed 2313. The bill will now go the Idaho House of Representatives.
The measure would allow for 12 liquor licenses within the resort and sets up new fees for the license holders.
The licenses wouldcost$25,000 a piece and require a $3,500 annual renewal fee, enough to cover a new inspector for the State Police's Alcoholic Beverage Control program, Turlington said.
But the license holders - independent vendors under contract with Tamarack - would not be able to sell or trade them, so they would only have value on the resort.
Scarce liquor licenses in many Idaho cities are traded on the free market and have become valuable commodities.
Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, chairman of State Affairs, said he does not like the fact that the legislature is carving out special exemptions or exceptions for businesses like Tamarack.
"As a state policy I've had concerns about that," McKenzie said.
But he supported the Tamarack request because it is limited to the boundaries of the resort and because it moves the state toward more local control over licensing.
"We have immediate need for the increase in licenses that we are requesting," Turlington said.
The Fairmont Hotel project at Tamarack, backed by tennis legends Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, will not happen without a liquor license, Turlington said.
The resort already has three licenses, and the additional nine it is requesting are pretty much spoken for, Turlington said.
Two years ago Tamarack wrote itself into state code as a "year-round" resort and won its initial three licenses.
The Ashley Inn
The Ashley Inn, a hotel and small conference center built three years ago in Cascade, is trying the same tack this year.
The inn has tried to attract a large restaurant but has not been successful because the city's two liquor licenses are already taken.
Sen. Lee Heinrich, R-Cascade, said there are two downtown bars, and the Cascade Golf Course, which is allowed a license in excess of the quota system of one liquor license per 1,500 people.
There are exceptions for golf courses and ski resorts, as well as trains, boats and planes.
But the inn would like to attract a restaurant like Applebee's or Ernie's Steakhouse in Grangeville, Heinrich said, and a liquor license is a prerequisite.
The Ashley Inn bill, Senate Bill 1413, could apply to hotels in other small towns. It would amend a law originally written for a proposed hotel in Ketchum that was never built.
It is also subject to local government approval. A hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee could come next week.
(Nathaniel Hoffman is an independent journalist and editor of PaleoMedia.org.)
