Opinion
June 17, 1952. As Modified on Denial of Rehearing July 11, 1952.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County, Charles A. Luckie, J.
Stockton, Ulmer Murchison and William A. Carter, Jacksonville, for appellants.
William M. Madison and O.O. McCollum, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellee.
Appellants instituted a mandamus action in the Circuit Court in and for Duval County, Florida, to compel the issuance to them of a license as vendors at retail of beer and wine in premises which they operate as a restaurant in the southeast corner of the Griner Hotel building. Said hotel is situate upon the southwest corner of Church and Julia Streets in Jacksonville, Florida. The First Christian Church is directly across Church Street from said hotel.
Appellants' application for the beer and wine license was disapproved because the location was determined to be within 125 feet of a church and, therefore, the issuance of such permit was and is prohibited by Section 11, Chapter 25, Code of the City of Jacksonville, 1942.
The question presented is one of the proper method of measurement to be used in determining whether the location of appellants' restaurant is within the prohibited distance of 125 feet from a church as provided by said Code. The Code does not set forth by what method of measurement the distance of 125 feet shall be calculated. If a straight or air line measurement is used the northernmost portion of appellants' restaurant is found to be less than 125 feet from the church property. If either the pedestrian traffic route or street lines measurement is used the distance from the church to the main entrance of the hotel, as well as to the entrance to the restaurant proper, is more than 125 feet.
We have not failed to consider the fact that because the northern wall of the Griner Hotel has no entrance it is impossible for a person to travel in a straight line from the church property to the northernmost portion of the restaurant. Indeed, had there been an entrance in the northern wall of said Hotel the straight line route would have been the same as the shortest pedestrian traffic path and the present controversy would not have arisen. After all, the only point involved in this case is the means of measuring an arbitrary distance. Once it is decided that it should be measured on a straight line, any intervening obstacles lose their significance for a straight line is the shortest distance between two points regardless of obstacles.
The purpose of legislation such as that under consideration herein is not simply to delay an errant communicant in carrying out a possible desire to leave the church and quickly arrive at a place where he might sip from the sparkling cup. Temptation is but one of the evils toward which this type of legislation is directed. Its primary objective is to remove the atmosphere of an establishment wherein intoxicating beverages are sold a reasonable distance from a church, school, hospital, soldiers' home or training camp because the milieu of such a place is considered inimical to the best interests and welfare of those who attend church, Sunday or secular school as well as of those who are voluntarily or necessarily ensconced within the other named institutions or grounds.
In the absence of a yardstick in the regulation itself, the general rule is as stated in 96 A.L.R. 778: "that, except as may be otherwise specifically provided, the distance contemplated by a statute or regulation prohibiting the granting of a license for the sale of intoxicating liquors, or traffic therein, within a certain distance of a named institution or place (e.g., church, school, hospital, soldiers' home, training camp) must be measured in a straight line, rather than in some other manner, such as by the usually traveled route or the street lines."
In the case of State ex rel. Fronton Exhibition Co. v. Stein, 144 Fla. 387, 198 So. 82, after an exhaustive discussion of the various rules for measurement and computation of distances, we adopted the general or straight line rule.
We conclude that we should affirm this case upon the authority of State v. Stein, supra. The general rule hereinabove quoted is all the more appropriately invoked when the distance provided by the regulation is as short as the 125 feet established by the ordinance of the City of Jacksonville.
Affirmed.
SEBRING, C.J., and TERRELL and THOMAS, JJ., concur.
Order On Petition For Rehearing
Upon due consideration of the Petition for Rehearing, we have modified our original opinion and have determined to and do hereby deny the Petition for Rehearing.
SEBRING, C.J., TERRELL, THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.