Off-Premise Alcohol Outlets

This HIA adds to the scope of a previous HIA that examined the relationship between liquor outlets and violence.  The project team assessed the relationship between high concentrations of liquor outlets and violence, with the goal of informing the current ‘non-conforming alcohol outlet amortization proposal’ to ensure that amortized alcohol outlet licenses do not relocate to become nuisances in other Baltimore communities.

Based on a literature review, the HIA found that there is evidence, with support for causality, that there is a relationship between alcohol outlets and violent crime. Local analyses suggest that neighborhoods with non-conforming alcohol outlets have higher violent crime rates.

The HIA made several recommendations for additional strategies including dispersal standards for new off-premise alcohol outlets; reducing the number of districts where off-premise alcohol outlets are permitted by right; and including median count of crime and health status of the surrounding neighborhood in the conditional use consideration process.