What to Know
- The Borough of Wildwood Crest is considering a referendum to allow alcohol sales.
- The referendum would allow the borough to issue up to two alcohol licenses.
- The town has been "dry" since 1940.
Since 1940, the Borough of Wildwood Crest has banned the sale of alcohol, but residents could soon play a role in reversing that nearly 80-year-old law.
The borough is considering a referendum to allow alcohol sales and wants residents to weigh in at upcoming Board of Commissioners meetings. Should the referendum pass, the borough would be allowed - but not required - to issue one retail consumption license to a restaurant or bar and one retail distribution license to a liquor store.
Several stakeholders, including the borough's police department, Tourism Development Commission, Recreation Commission, Green Team and Wellness Committee are currently reviewing how the sale of alcohol could affect the town.
The borough has also "met with several professional planners, all of whom have stated that the addition of one liquor consumption license is vital to a town that prides itself on being a tourism destination, particularly when all of Wildwood Crest's surrounding communities all permit the sale of alcohol," it said in a press release.
The town would use the licensing process "as a one-time financial benefit to the borough via the sale - through auction, bid or other process - of said license."
It would also be allowed to restrict the hours during which a business could use the license, but could allow special event permitting "for those events that are in accordance with the character of the borough."
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The proposed referendum would overturn the 1940 vote that made the town "dry" in the first place, but to get on the ballot, it would still need to gather enough signatures through the petition process.
The petition would need to be organized by a registered voter who cast a ballot in the 2017 general election. At least 212 registered voters would need to sign the petition before it could be presented to the Board of Commissioners, who would then ask the Cape May County clerk to put the referendum on the ballot.
If all of those things happen, the question of whether the borough should allow alcohol sales could be put to voters as soon as the general election in November of this year.
Residents who can't attend the Board of Commissioners meetings can also weigh in by emailing borough administrator Connie Mahon at cmahon@wildwoodcrest.org, clerk Patricia Feketics at pfeketics@wildwodcrest.org or the borough's general email address, info@wildwoodcrest.org.
