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New Jersey city could lift alcohol ban after 120 years
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New Jersey city could lift alcohol ban after 120 years

Health! Prohibition may finally be over in a New Jersey town.

One of the Garden State’s last “dry towns” could finally allow restaurants to sell liquor after 120 years.

Voters in Haddon Heights, a suburb about seven miles southeast of Camden County, are weighing an Election Day ballot question about whether retail licenses should be allowed after more than a century. NJ.com reported.

Haddon Heights, one of New Jersey’s last “dry towns,” could finally approve retail liquor licenses. google maps

Haddon Heights, founded in 1904, has no liquor stores or bars. It is one of 30 Jersey municipalities that do not allow retail consumption licenses, according to the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association.

However, Tuesday’s election proposal is non-binding, so the city council would still have the final say.

Haddon Heights Mayor Zachary Houck hopes to toast allowing liquor sales, saying the change could help renew the township’s business district.

“If the community comes out and expresses an opinion that says we are strongly against this, I think the majority of the council would be inclined to say, okay,” Houck said. “If it’s a split decision, that’s where we have to make the decision.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has sought to rewrite New Jersey’s Prohibition-era liquor laws to increase the number of licenses for bars and restaurants. AP

Governor Phil Murphy has expressed his support and signed legislation expanding the number of liquor licenses for restaurants in New Jersey.

Even if approved, the booze cruise still wouldn’t set sail.

New Jersey law allows one retail liquor license for every 3,000 residents and Haddon Heights is home to only about 7,400 people, so only two restaurants would receive retail licenses if the proposal passes.

New Jersey still has about 30 municipalities that do not allow retail consumption licenses. Christopher Sadowski

Last year, the town of Rutherford in Bergen County issued its first liquor license to a restaurant in more than a century after voters approved a ballot question.

In September, Cape May County passed a resolution in support of maintaining the ban on alcohol sales, which has been in place for 115 years, according to NJ.com.