SALT LAKE CITY - The tap is close to being shut off for anyone who wants to open a bar in Utah following a rush of applicants in the past few months who want to take advantage of a new state law that will open up bars to the public next week.

On Wednesday, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will come closer to running out of liquor licenses for bars and restaurants for the year as it reviews two dozen new applicants. And the problem was compounded Tuesday, when DABC reduced the maximum number of liquor licenses available.

Utah limits the number of liquor licenses that it issues based on the state's population. Only one bar can open per 7,850 residents and for restaurants that serve liquor with a meal, only one license can be issued per 5,200 residents.

Only 12 licenses for bars remained after last month's meeting, but DABC spokeswoman Sharon Mackay said Tuesday that 28 licenses for bars would be available because several didn't renew their licenses. The department also reduced the overall number of licenses available from 361 to 357, she said.

That's good news for the 14 applicants that will be reviewed Wednesday, but the situation is more dire for restaurants seeking licenses.

Availability for those licenses was being reduced, from 546 licenses to 539, because of previous population overestimates. Only 12 restaurant liquor licenses remained Tuesday, and the DABC was set to review eight applications Wednesday.

Among those applying were several restaurants, taverns already open to the public and a 21-and-up movie theater that already serves beer have applied for licenses to operate bars serving liquor in anticipation of the new law.

The Utah Hospitality Association, which represents the state's bar industry, had called the quota system arbitrary and was set to meet later Tuesday to decide whether to lobby lawmakers to change it, said association lawyer Lisa Marcy.

The run on liquor licenses comes as the state makes the most sweeping changes to its liquor laws in 40 years. On July 1, bar patrons will no longer have to fill out an application and pay a fee for the right to enter bars, which are considered private clubs for another week.

The change is being made in an effort to lure more tourists to the state and help persuade businesses and workers considering a move here that the state isn't that different from the rest of the country.

But while the state is loosening its grip on its notoriously strict liquor laws, the quota system remains in an effort to limit the flow of alcohol in a state where relatively few people drink. Six of the state's 29 counties don't have any bars where liquor is served, while another five counties have only one, according to DABC records.

Utah is home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which tells its members to abstain from alcohol. About 60 percent of state residents are Mormon and more than 80 percent of the Legislature, which sets liquor license quotas, are members of the church.

DABC chairman Sam Granato, a Mormon running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate, said he would prefer that the quota system be scrapped. He said it should be left up to local governments and the free market as to how many bars can open and where.

"I think everyone that wants to go to into business should have an equal opportunity," he said. "Every area of this state is unique in its own right and they know what the traffic will bare."

State lawmakers have adjusted liquor license quotas before, but it's unclear what their appetite for it will be when they convene again in January.

Many lawmakers only reluctantly agreed to scrap the state's private club system because it didn't increase the total number of bars in the state. The total number of liquor licenses available for bars usually increases every year along with the state's population.

This year is different, though.

When developing its rules for the number of available liquor licenses this year, the DABC overestimated the state's population. The 361 available licenses equals to a population of 2,833,850.

The state's population estimates committee, which met in November, determined that the state's population on July 1, 2008, was 2,757,779. The state won't devise new population estimates until this winter.

State law dictates that for the purposes of divvying up liquor licenses, the population is determined from the U.S. Census or state figures. Census figures peg Utah's July 1, 2008, population even lower, at 2,736,424.

The law doesn't specify whether population projections are allowed, who could determine those projections or how far in advance projections could be made and for what period it would cover.

The number of licenses being made available Wednesday puts the state's population at 2,802,800, or a 2.7 percent increase from the 2008 state estimate.

On the Net:

Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control www.alcbev.state.ut.us

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