Tuscaloosa to Require Special Permits for Businesses With Long Lines

The Tuscaloosa City Council unanimously voted to require businesses have a queuing permit in order to have people line up outside during the hours of 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. at Tuesday night's city council meeting.

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The Code of Tuscaloosa defines queuing as "a line of people within defined temporary barriers on the public sidewalk or right-of-way waiting to gain entrance to a business in the corporate limits of the City of Tuscaloosa."

The city began discussing ways to combat long lines that lead to public safety issues at the request of the police department. The city said most criminal offenses that occur outside of businesses happen while patrons wait in lines to enter establishments.

The queuing permit will require business owners to have clearly defined lines alongside their businesses and not interfere with queuing of other establishments.

Businesses who do not have issues with getting patrons into their establishments or those who choose to disallow lines outside will not be required to have a queuing permit.

Applications for queuing permits will be required to be submitted to the Revenue Division of the Accounting and Finance Department with an application fee of $100.

Annual renewal of the permit will cost $250 for establishments with occupancy limits of less than 100 persons, $500 for occupancy limits of 100 to 299 persons and $750 for occupancy limits of 300 persons or more, which will be credited to the Public Safety Fund.