CITY OF ELK GROVE CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT

Transcription

1 CITY OF ELK GROVE CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT AGENDA ITEM NO AGENDA TITLE: Provide Direction on ABC Liquor License Condition Change to Allow the Sale of Beer and Malt products at the Walmart Store Located at 8465 Elk Grove Boulevard MEETING DATE: September 10, 2014 PREPARED BY DEPARTMENT HEAD: Robert M. Lehner, Chief of Police RECOMMENDED ACTION: Staff requests City Council direction regarding the possible removal of a condition on the alcohol license for the Walmart Store located at 8465 Elk Grove Boulevard, which removal would allow this store to sell beer and/or malt products, including malt-based coolers. Staff recommends submitting a conditional objection to the removal of the condition, subject to a revision to the condition prohibiting single unit and broken package sales. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Elk Grove City Council recently received correspondence from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), dated August 14, 2014, informing the City of ABC s receipt of a petition requesting removal of a condition on Walmart s alcohol license for its store located at 8465 Elk Grove Blvd. Walmart s petition seeks the removal of Condition No. 3 of the license which provides: The sale of beer and/or malt products including malt based coolers is strictly prohibited. If this condition were removed, as requested by Walmart, this store would be authorized to sell beer and malt products. Even if the City objects, ABC retains discretion to remove the condition after holding a further hearing on the objection. A copy of ABC s correspondence is attached to this staff report. 1

2 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 2 of 4 Walmart s petition is authorized by Section of the California Business and Professions Code. Pursuant to that code section, the City has thirty days to file a written objection to the modification/removal of this condition. If the City does not object within this time-frame, ABC will presume the City has no objection to the removal of the condition. This original license pre-dates the incorporation of the City. The license was issued in 1999 as a Type 20 (Off-Sale Beer and Wine) license. At that time, the County of Sacramento approved a Letter of Public Convenience and Necessity (PCN) for the store, subject to ABC placing various restrictions on the license, including the prohibition of sales of beer and malt products. These restrictions were carried forward into the license, allowing the sale of wine, but not beer. The license contains additional conditions limiting wine sales to 750ml (or larger) bottles and wine coolers to factory four-packs or larger. In 2010, Walmart applied for a Type 21 Off-Sale General License, and all of the conditions of the original Type 21 license were transferred to the new license. Upon approval, Walmart was able to sell wine and distilled spirits, but not beer or malt products. Walmart s present petition requests removal of the beer and malt products restriction at its store at 8465 Elk Grove Blvd. ANALYSIS Walmart s petition is not a request for a new alcohol sales license or the transfer of a license. Therefore, no PCN letter is required. It is in the course of approving a PCN that a governing body (then the County, now the City) conditions the location where alcohol will be sold with certain restrictions. In the case of supermarkets and grocery stores, these PCNs have been approved by the Elk Grove City Council, but typically with some use restrictions. Though these use restrictions vary somewhat from location to location based on the site and quality of business operations, single serving size unit sales and broken package sales have been consistently restricted in such licenses in the past several years. 2

3 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 3 of 4 The City cannot now condition the location of this applicant with a new locational restriction. The City is being presented with the narrow question of whether it objects to the removal of Condition No. 3 of the existing license, which prohibits beer and malt product sales at this store. Should the City Council object to the removal of this condition, it now has the opportunity to do so, and to so notify ABC in writing. Although the City could object to the removal of the condition outright, such an objection is inconsistent with previous actions of the City Council on this subject, both with respect to this applicant (at applicant s other locations) and other similar businesses. Further, it seems incongruent to permit the sale of wine and distilled spirits (hard alcohol), yet prohibit beer. The City could choose to take no action with respect to the removal of the condition. If the City takes no action, the permit condition will likely be removed, and this store would be able to sell beer and malt, including sales of single-unit and broken package. For these reasons, staff recommends the City Council authorize the Police Chief to send a conditional notice to ABC as described in the following section. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Council approve the letter included as Attachment 1, which provides a written conditional objection to removal of Condition No. 3, subject to it being modified to prohibit single-serving and broken package beer and malt product sales, but allow other sales of beer and malt products. The proposed language of the restriction is similar to those most recently adopted for Type 21 ABC license supermarket and grocery locations. Alternatively, the City Council could take the following action: 1. Direct that an unconditional objection be issued, objecting to any removal or modification of Condition No. 3 of the license. 2. Affirmatively state that the City has no objection to the removal of the condition. 3

4 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 4 of 4 3. Take no action, which will effectively be a non-objection to the removal of the condition. 4. Provide staff with further direction. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact to the City associated with this action. ATTACHMENTS: 1. City letter of conditional objection to ABC 2. August 14, 2014 letter from ABC to the Elk Grove City Council containing Walmart petition and supporting documents 4

5 ATTACHMENT 1 DATE Ms. MaryAnne Gilchrist, Licensing Representative Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Sacramento District Office 2400 Del Paso Rd., Suite 155 Sacramento, CA RE: ABC FILE: GENERAL LICENSE No (Walmart Store #1697, 8465 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove, CA) Dear Mr. Gilchrist: This letter is in response to your letter of August 14, 2014 notifying the City of Elk Grove of a petition by Walmart to remove Condition No. 3 (regarding beer and malt product sales) at its Store #1697 located in Elk Grove. The Elk Grove City Council considered this issue at its meeting of September 10, 2014 and authorized the Chief of Police to communicate the City s objection as follows: The City of Elk Grove objects to the removal of this condition unless a condition is included to prohibit sales of beer and/or other malt products, including malt based coolers, in individual units less than 32 ounces or in unit numbers less than the factory packaging of units less than 32 ounces. This condition is similar to a condition covering wine sales by the same licensee and a similar condition to the business license location of other stores operated by this licensee and similar businesses located in Elk Grove. Please do not hesitate to contact Elk Grove Police Chief Robert M. Lehner at (916) or by at RLehner@ElkGrovePD.org if you have any questions or require additional information. Sincerely, Robert M. Lehner Chief of Police 5

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