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VERO B)WL <br />LANES • LOUNGE <br />CORPORATE ADDRESS <br />241 East Prospect Road <br />Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334 <br />PH (954) 727-0054 FAX (954) 727-0145 <br />Mr. Peter O'Bryan <br />Commission — District IV <br />pobryan@ircgov.com <br />Re: City of Vero Beach Change of Ordinance — <br />Extension of Bar/Restaurant Hours to 2 AM <br />May 21, 2014 <br />Dear Commissioner O'Bryan, <br />As you are aware, at the May 20, 2014 City Council meeting, the City of Vero <br />Beach unanimously approved a change to the ordinance regarding bars/restaurants to <br />allow the Sale, Service, and Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages until 2:00 AM, from <br />1:00 AM previously. Furthermore, the Council, in an effort to gauge any perhaps <br />negative effects of this change, provided for a 12 month review of same. <br />For many years, the bar/restaurant businesses within Indian River County have <br />had a competitive disadvantage to those in the surrounding counties as Brevard and St. <br />Lucie counties have had a 2:00 AM curfew for some time. And, as a result, customers of <br />Indian River County businesses that wished to extend their evening would opt to <br />patronize those counties' businesses entirely or simply leave the county at a certain time <br />to travel to the other venues that were able to remain open. The City of Vero Beach's <br />vote resolved that issue for the City of Vero Beach businesses but, as a result, created an <br />even more untenable situation for those businesses within unincorporated Indian River <br />County. <br />As a result, neighboring businesses across the street from one another are <br />governed by two sets of differing regulations. Considering that a significant percentage <br />of revenue of bars/restaurants is generated in the last hour of operating hours, the <br />disadvantage is sizeable, particularly damaging and, frankly, illogical. <br />117 <br />