In VFW John O'Connor Post #4833 v. Santa Rosa County, Florida, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17150 (ND FL, March 12, 2007), a Florida federal district court rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to the alcoholic beverage licensing requirements of Santa Rosa County, FL. Under the county's Land Development Code, vendors of alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption must be located at least 2500 feet from any church or school, unless the distance requirement is waived by the County Commission. While consent of a church is not required in order to obtain a waiver, a fee of $25 is charged to offset the cost of determining whether affected churches and schools object to the granting of a license. The court distinguished this case from the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Larkin v. Grendel's Den, because there churches had an absolute veto over the granting of liquor licenses.
The court went on to find that the Santa Rosa county waiver provision is unconstitutionally vague, but that it may be severed from the remainder of the statute. This leaves plaintiff to pursue its equal protection and substantive due process challenges to the remainder of the Code provisions.
