South Carolina § 61-6-120 - Proximity to church, school, or playground; exception.

§ 61-6-120. Proximity to church, school, or playground; exception.

(A) The department shall not grant or issue any license provided for in this article, Article 5, or Article 7 of this chapter, if the place of business is within three hundred feet of any church, school, or playground situated within a municipality or within five hundred feet of any church, school, or playground situated outside of a municipality. Such distance shall be computed by following the shortest route of ordinary pedestrian or vehicular travel along the public thoroughfare from the nearest point of the grounds in use as part of such church, school, or playground, which, as used herein, shall be defined as follows:

(1) "church", an establishment, other than a private dwelling, where religious services are usually conducted;

(2) "school", an establishment, other than a private dwelling, where the usual processes of education are usually conducted; and

(3) "playground", a place, other than grounds at a private dwelling, which is provided by the public or members of a community for recreation.

The above restrictions do not apply to the renewal of licenses and they do not apply to new applications for locations which are licensed at the time the new application is filed with the department.

(B) An applicant for license renewal or for a new license at an existing location shall pay a five dollar certification fee to determine if the exemptions provided for in subsection (A) apply.

(C)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (A), the department may issue a license so long as any church, school, or playground located within the parameters affirmatively states that it does not object to the issuance of a license. This subsection only applies to a permit for on-premises consumption of alcoholic liquor.

(2)(a) Any applicant seeking to utilize the provisions of this subsection must provide a statement declaring the church, playground, or school does not object to the issuance of the specific license sought, as follows:

(i) if a church, from the decision-making body of the local church;

(ii) if a playground, from the decision-making body of the owner of the playground;

(iii) if a school, from the local school district board of trustees of the local public school, governing board of the charter school, or governing authority of the private school.

(b) If more than one church, school, or playground is located within the parameters set forth in subsection (A), the applicant must provide the statement from all churches, schools, or playgrounds.

(c) At the time of any renewal period for the specific license, a school, from the local school district board of trustees of the local public school, governing board of the charter school, or governing authority of the private school, may withdraw its statement declaring it does not object to the issuance of the specific license sought by notifying the department of its withdrawal.

(3) The department may promulgate regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this subsection.

HISTORY: 1996 Act No. 415, SECTION 1; 1996 Act No. 458, Part II, SECTION 100; 2014 Act No. 253 (H.4399), SECTION 1, eff June 6, 2014; 2018 Act No. 252 (H.3549), SECTIONS 1, 2, eff May 25, 2018.

Effect of Amendment

2014 Act No. 253, SECTION 1, in subsection (A), inserted "Article 5," in the first sentence, and added subsection (C).

2018 Act No. 252, SECTION 1, in (A)(2), inserted a comma following "private dwelling".

2018 Act No. 252, SECTION 2, rewrote (C), providing that a license may be issued if the decision-making body of the church, school, or playground affirmatively states that it does not object to the issuance of a license and allowing the decision-making body of a school to withdraw its statement during the renewal period for the license.