KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Westport bar has won its battle with a neighborhood church that did not want the place to have a 3 a.m. liquor license.
Kansas City’s Regulated Indisturies ruled Thursday to allow Dave’s Stagecoach Inn to have the extended hours license.
The new license allows the bar to stay open 90 minutes later than previously permitted.
Westport Presbyterian Church is a neighborhood relic. It’s older than the neighboring Harris-Kearney historic home.
“This is a historic neighborhood and the church has become a center for community life in Westport,” Rev. Scott Myers said Wednesday before the vote took place.
The church was also in the center of controversy. Church members believe they have a right to live without 3 a.m. bars.
“It affects public safety and it affects public health,” Myers said.
Based on bad experiences with the old XO nightclub, which was the last 3 a.m. liquor licensee west of Broadway in Westport, the church went after Dave’s Stagecoach Inn.
Lawyers for Westport Presbyterian Church asked Regulated Industries to renege on the new 3 a.m. license given to Dave’s owners.
“I don’t know why the church has a problem with it,” said Brian Bales, a regular customer at the bar.
Dave’s is family-owned. It’s been open for 59 years. According to Regulated Industries, Dave’s owners play by the rules.
“In other words, there hasn’t been an issue with police,” said Gary Majors, director of Regulated Industries. “There hasn’t been an issue with large-scale disturbances, not one.”
Still, Dave’s owners said they lost 40 percent of their business to Kansas City’s new smoking ban. Their extended hours license could prevent bankruptcy.
“It’s a competition,” Bales said. “They have to survive. I mean, you have so many other 3 a.m. licenses in Westport, why can’t Dave’s have one?”
Myers believes it sets a precedent the church and neighborhood may not be able to endure.
“Other entrepreneurs could move in and enlarge it,” Myers said. “We found once these licenses, once they are issued, they stay forever. We don’t know who might come in after the current owners.”
In the church’s appeal, they claim too few neighbors signed off on the bar’s 3 a.m. license. However, Majors said 51 percent of property owners in the area did consent, which is enough by law.
