The owner of a Tellico Village restaurant recently asked Loudon County Commission for help getting a license to sell alcohol.

Larry Wooden, of Little Italy of Tellico Village, spoke during the public comment period of an April 17 commission workshop. Wooden said he came before commissioners four years ago after the restaurant moved to its location in Lakeside Plaza and was denied a beer license by the Loudon County Beer Board.

Wooden said the business was denied because it is less than 2,000 feet from The Public Library at Tellico Village, which is classified as a public meeting place for children.


Several Tellico Village residents attended the workshop and were in favor of issuing the restaurant a license to serve beer and wine. The restaurant is often used by residents for club meetings and other gatherings.

Wooden said not being able to sell alcohol has negatively impacted his business. He asked commissioners to consider changing the requirements.

“We are on the edge of just closing the door because we’ve been fighting this for four years, and I’ve been told many, many times over this four-year period that they would look into it, they would see what they could do,” Wooden said. “They would see if they could get us a variance.

“We’re in a retirement community,” he added. “There are no children. You can look at where the bus stops are and see how many children and where they are. There’s not any child miles from us. … I would ask that something be looked into.”

Wooden said the library will actually offer beer during events. Friends of the Tellico Village Library hosts the annual 4 B’s Festival, which stands for barbecue, band, beer and books, in September.

He also said the previous restaurant in the space occupied by Little Italy had a permit to sell alcohol.

Commission Chairman Henry Cullen said he has hit a wall every time he has tried to help Wooden. Cullen said the last time he checked with Loudon County Schools, there was a total of 138 children in the Village.

Commissioner Chase Randolph said he is not in favor of changing regulations for the entire county but is concerned about a business struggling. He said he was bothered the library could have beer at an event but a county regulation penalizes Little Italy because of its proximity to the library.

Commissioner Van Shaver said when the beer board reviewed the restaurant’s permit application in 2019, the board’s attorney brought up the distance because some libraries have been deemed a place of public gathering, citing a lawsuit from Boyd’s Creek Enterprises LLC vs. Sevier County.

Shaver said the wording indicates the lawsuit was for the specific library in Sevier County and predicts an argument could be made in court that the Tellico Village library is not the same.

“I myself feel there is a great difference between the Tellico Village library and the Sevier County library,” he said. “I think it’s apples and oranges. The best way to help yourself, to help you sir, is to go have the chancellor look at the case by case. The importance to the rest of the county is the 2,000-foot rule. ... It has protected a lot of places. .… There are no variances. There are no special exceptions.”

Shaver said he could not support commission reducing the distance requirement for the entire county, but he told Wooden he could seek relief in the courts.

Cullen asked Wooden to contact him when Wooden secured an attorney.