Woodbury Council Mulls Alcohol for Bielenberg Sports Center Restaurant

The City Council recently examined plans for a new restaurant at the sports center, which is currently undergoing a major expansion.

Want to sit down at the Bielenberg Sports Center and have a bloody Mary on a weekend morning? The Woodbury City Council examined Wednesday plans for a new restaurant as part of the Bielenberg Sports Center expansion project, and alcohol sales were big part of the discussion. Greg Gartner, whose company is heading up food service at the new facility, said he plans to apply for a full liquor license. Related: New Restaurant at Bielenberg: Woodbury Council Gets First Look Councilwoman Julie Ohs expressed concerns about having alcohol sales at a facility where children are the primary patrons. “It gets a little tricky,” she said. Gartner said there would be some sort of divider, possibly a railing, keeping the restaurant area separate from …

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Kris Janisch

9:26 am on Sunday, May 19, 2013

Anybody else want to weigh in on this one?   more ›

Letter to the Editor

Let the New Bielenberg Sports Center Food Vendor Sell Alcohol: Letter to the Editor

“There needs to be the necessary due diligence to attract the best vendor and offer the widest variety of amenities possible,” says Woodbury resident Laura Lee.

A January article in Woodbury Patch reported that the City Council was considering asking citizens, in February, about serving alcohol at the Bielenberg Sports Center as part of the expansion project. Patch later reported that the city decided against including a question on the community survey about whether alcohol should be served at the new restaurant, as it would take too much time to discuss on the telephone survey.  Now, according to a city official, the decision as to whether to allow alcohol service is up to the City Council and has not yet been made as a result of a lack of consensus on the council.   Apparently, some of the council members feel the entire facility should offer a “family” environment, since many of the patrons …

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Eric Berg

7:37 am on Sunday, April 7, 2013

Going at this from another direction. Just across the street, accessible by a future pedestrian tunnel will be Bielenberg Gardens. From the looks of the conceptual plans (which are generally only slightly more reliable than tea leaves or ouija boards), it appears that there are four restaurant outlots. These could be your average fast food, they could be casual dining, they could be supper clubs …   more ›

Woodbury Decides Against Asking About Alcohol at Bielenberg on Community Survey

The company conducting the survey will begin calling Woodbury residents today, Monday, Feb. 4.

Woodbury officials have decided not to include a question about alcohol at the Bielenberg Sports Center on the city’s biannual community survey. In January, Councilman Christopher Burns broached the topic as the city was going through the proposed questions for the survey. (The city is planning a $21.8 million project to replace the aging dome with a permanent field house, along with other upgrades.) Related: Beer at Bielenberg? Woodbury Plans to Ask Residents in Community Survey (Updated) City staff, however, found that the nuances of such a measure would be difficult to explain to respondents during the approximately 150-question survey, according to Mary Van Milligen, assistant to the city administrator. “The survey question needs to …

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Kris Janisch

3:02 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013

One other note: The city is expecting to chose a provider for food service before the council gets the results of the survey, but the survey will ask people what kind of food they'd like to see there, and that info will be passed along to the provider.   more ›

Beer at Bielenberg? Woodbury Plans to Ask Residents in Community Survey (Updated)

The Woodbury City Council on Wednesday discussed the proposed questions for its biannual community survey. Vote in our poll at the bottom of the story.

During a discussion Wednesday of the city’s upcoming community survey, the Woodbury City Council briefly talked about asking residents whether beer and wine should be available at the Bielenberg Sports Center. Woodbury plans to begin construction this spring on a new $21.8 million field house to replace the aging dome. The city is also seeking a new food service provider for the facility. Councilman Christopher Burns broached the topic Wednesday as the council was going through the proposed questions for the survey. He said the idea of selling beer and wine at Bielenberg hasn’t been discussed at the council level as part of the expansion process. “Maybe we should get some constituent feedback,” Burns said. Staff is checking into whether …

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Kris Janisch

10:32 am on Sunday, January 27, 2013

I never added it to this post, but I did talk to Bob Klatt about it. He said it would run with separate area. Maybe it would work where they only open it up during adult league games at night or something. Obviously still just an idea now.   more ›

High Number Of Woodbury Businesses Fail Alcohol, Tobacco Compliance Checks

The police department used “more realistic-aged decoys” recently, leading to the increase.

Woodbury saw an unusually high number of businesses fail recent alcohol- and tobacco-compliance checks. Why was that? “We used more realistic-aged decoys,” said Wendy Simone, investigative technician with the Woodbury Police Department. “That made a profound difference. We haven’t had this many failures in a long time.” The police department typically puts the word out internally for decoys, Simone said, and officers worked to get more age-appropriate people for the recent checks. The decoys don’t use fake identification—they use their own IDs or claim they left it in the car. When a business fails a compliance check, the employee who sold the alcohol or tobacco is charged with a gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor, respectively. Police have …

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