Habersham County unanimously approves earlier Sunday drink-sales start

Habersham County commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance amendment on Jan. 23, 2023, moving the Sunday opening time for alcohol sales by the drink from 12:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. The vote came at the second reading of a change to Chapter 6, Article III, Section 6-134, completing the commission’s consideration of the earlier start for on-premises sales.

The 90-minute change matters most to restaurants and other establishments authorized to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink, as well as customers planning late-morning Sunday meals or events. It was a countywide adjustment to the stated start time for that particular form of alcohol sale, not a decision establishing rules for every type of alcohol transaction or license.

The action began as a proposal placed on the Board of Commissioners’ Dec. 19, 2022 agenda for a first reading. More than a month later, commissioners took up the amendment at its second reading and approved it unanimously, replacing the 12:30 p.m. Sunday start with an 11 a.m. start for by-the-drink sales.

For businesses permitted to sell drinks on site, the ordinance created the prospect of serving customers earlier on Sundays; patrons of those businesses could likewise encounter an earlier late-morning service time. The commissioners’ position on the ordinance is reflected in the unanimous approval recorded at the Jan. 23 meeting. The meeting materials identify the scope as Sunday alcohol sales by the drink and do not document separate positions from individual businesses, customers or opponents.

The commission’s approval was a completed act, rather than a pending proposal: the Jan. 23 minutes record a motion, second and unanimous vote on the second-reading amendment. What remains uncertain is implementation. The cited county materials do not state the effective date, establish whether Section 6-134 was later codified without changes, or identify the precise code version license holders should consult for the rule then in force.

The next public record likely to clarify the matter would be a codified version of Section 6-134 or a later county ordinance record that sets the amendment’s effective date. The central unresolved question is therefore not whether commissioners approved the 11 a.m. start—they did unanimously—but when it became operative and what final codified language governed businesses afterward.