Layton is the city of convenience along the Wasatch Front for the purchase of beer 24 hours a day.
But Layton police aren't sure it's a good idea to be the only Wasatch Front city with no limitations on overnight beer sales. The lack of restrictions apparently attracts a lot of out-of-town buyers.City Manager Alex Jensen said Layton is the only Wasatch Front city that doesn't restrict beer sales between approximately 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. He said a new ordinance a few years ago created this relaxed situation.
"People come to Layton when other sales are closed," Jensen said.
Police Chief Doyle Talbot said overnight beer sales create a dilemma because banning such sales tends to foster occasional violent confrontations and assaults of store clerks. In contrast, having no sale limitations can lead to problems from people who come from other cities to buy beer and are arrested for drunken driving.
"I don't have an answer," Talbot told the City Council. "But I don't want to trade one problem for another."
Talbot said he doesn't yet have any statistics on arrests relating to the 24-hour beer sales, but his officers believe they are involved in more non-resident arrests overnight than previously.
The issue is tentatively set for discussion at the Jan. 20 City Council meeting.
Layton's ordinance targets grocery stores and convenience stores that sell beer for off-premise consumption, Talbot said, and not restaurants, bars or taverns.
Talbot said he has talked to store owners about a loss of income if overnight sales were banned, particularly because they sell a lot of beer to campers and outdoorsmen early in the moring during summer. He plans to contact store owners again about overnight beer-sale problems.