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Liquor license hearing for Fresh and Easy continued to August 10

The Planning Commission hearing on a potential liquor license for the future Fresh and Easy Market has been continued to August 10.

The Planning Commission had originally been scheduled to hear the Fresh and Easy’s appeal of an administrative denial on July 27, but the Planning Commission voted 5-0, with two commissioners absent, to approve a request for the continuance.

The Fresh and Easy Market will be located in the 1100 block of South Main Street. The shopping center is located in Census Tract 189.05, which is allowed four liquor licenses but currently includes seven. Fresh and Easy Market has applied for a Type 21, or general off-sale, liquor license, but the state’s Business and Professions Code stipulates that if the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission determines that an “undue concentration” exists in the vicinity of the application premises the license is to be denied unless the local jurisdiction determines that public necessity or convenience would be served by issuing the liquor license.

Board of Supervisors Policy I-121 stipulates the criteria to be used in a determination of public necessity or convenience. The Sheriff’s Department must determine that approval or conditional approval will not negatively influence criminal activity including loitering, vandalism, public drunkenness, illegal drug use and sales, theft, and violent behavior. The Department of Planning and Land Use must determine that the retail outlet is compatible with community character and consider factors such as the number and proximity of other establishments selling alcohol, proximity to schools and playgrounds or other facilities serving young people, proximity to residential neighborhoods, and whether the store provides a wide range of desirable goods and services or a unique type of goods or services.

In April an off-sale liquor license was denied for a business in the 1000 block of South Main Street, and on June 19 the Department of Planning and Land Use denied not only the Fresh and Easy liquor license request but also an application for the Shell station in the 1200 block of Main Street. The determination that public convenience or necessity would not be served by a liquor license for Fresh and Easy was appealed to the Planning Commission; the appeal was filed on June 28.

Seven off-sale and ten on-sale liquor licenses exist within a half-mile radius. Five schools are within a half-mile radius, and the nearest residential zone is approximately 225 feet from the parcel.

Fresh and Easy describes itself as a neighborhood market, which is neither a convenience store nor a supermarket. Less than 10 percent of the premises, which include approximately 10,000 square feet of retail store space, would be devoted to liquor sales. Large windows in the front of the building would give police a direct view into the facility, and the property maintenance program includes timely graffiti and litter removal.

 

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