16-4-201. All-beverages license quota. (1) Except as otherwise provided by law, a license to sell liquor, beer, and table wine at retail (an all-beverages license) in accordance with the provisions of this code and the rules of the department may be issued to any person who is approved by the department as a fit and proper person to sell such beverages, except that the number of all-beverages licenses that the department may issue for premises situated within incorporated cities and incorporated towns and within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits of such cities and towns shall be determined on the basis of population prescribed in 16-4-502 as follows:
     (a) in incorporated towns of 500 inhabitants or less and within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits of such towns, not more than two retail licenses;
     (b) in incorporated cities or incorporated towns of more than 500 inhabitants and not over 3,000 inhabitants and within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits of such cities and towns, three retail licenses for the first 1,000 inhabitants and one retail license for each additional 1,000 inhabitants;
     (c) in incorporated cities of over 3,000 inhabitants and within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits thereof, five retail licenses for the first 3,000 inhabitants and one retail license for each additional 1,500 inhabitants.
     (2) The number of the inhabitants in such cities and towns, exclusive of the number of inhabitants residing within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits thereof, shall govern the number of retail licenses that may be issued for use within such cities and towns and within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits thereof. If two or more incorporated municipalities are situated within a distance of 5 miles from each other, the total number of retail licenses that may be issued for use in both of such municipalities and within a distance of 5 miles from their respective corporate limits shall be determined on the basis of the combined populations of both of such municipalities and may not exceed the foregoing limitations. The distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits of any incorporated city or incorporated town shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest entrance of the premises proposed for licensing to the nearest corporate boundary of the city or town.
     (3) Retail all-beverages licenses of issue on March 7, 1947, and all-beverages licenses issued under 16-4-209, which are in excess of the foregoing limitations shall be renewable, but no new licenses may be issued in violation of such limitations.
     (4) Such limitations do not prevent the issuance of a nontransferable and nonassignable (as to ownership only) retail license to an enlisted men's, noncommissioned officers', or officers' club located on a state or federal military reservation on May 13, 1985, or to any post of a nationally chartered veterans' organization or any lodge of a recognized national fraternal organization if such veterans' or fraternal organization has been in existence for a period of 5 years or more prior to January 1, 1949.
     (5) The number of retail all-beverages licenses that the department may issue for use at premises situated outside of any incorporated city or incorporated town and outside of the area within a distance of 5 miles from the corporate limits thereof may not be more than one license for each 750 population of the county after excluding the population of incorporated cities and incorporated towns in such county.

     History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 84, L. 1937; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 226, L. 1947; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 164, L. 1949; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 144, L. 1951; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 56, L. 1955; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 206, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 217, L. 1963; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 322, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 340, L. 1974; Sec. 4-403, R.C.M. 1947; amd. and redes. by Sec. 79, Ch. 387, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 496, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, ; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 25, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 519, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 595, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 731, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 68, L. 1987.