Agenda - Council - 06/29/1992 - Special

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CASE #1 RALPH'S HWY. ,gl0 LIQUOR LICENSE By: Mike Auspos, Police Chief Background: Ralph's Hwy. 4/10 Liquor, an off-sale intoxicating liquor sales establishment, has applied for renewal of its license. The current license expires at 12:00 midnight on June 30, 1992. As you are aware, because Mr. Nissen, the owner, put his pawn shop into the basement of the liquor store, he no longer has 4,000 square feet of retail/storage space for liquor licensing as required by ordinance. Mr. Nissen was informed of this at his last license renewal which took place on June 25, 1991 (seen Attachment A). The building has not been brought into compliance with the ordinance as of this date (June 29, 1992). Zoning Administrator Sylvia Frolik spoke with Mr. Nissen on June 24, 1992 (see Attachment B) as a result of Council direction at the June 23, 1992 meeting. Mr. Nissen, at his own doing, forwarded to my office on June 23, 1992 a memo of intent to construct a fenced area (see Attachment C). Findings: There are several options fo the Council to consider at this point and they are as follows: Do not renew Ralph's Hwy. #10 Liquor license until the premises again has 4,000 square feet of retail and storage space as required by City Code. If the license is not renewed, it appears that Mr. Nissen would have to go through an original application process to be issued what would be a new license. Bo Grant Mr. Nissen's request that he be allowed to add a fenced area of 1,140 square feet to be used as liquor store storage exclusively. Sylvia's memo of June 24, 1992 addresses this option as well as Option C. There could be a problem in the future if Option B is selected in that other establishments licensed for off-sale may also want to have fenced storage of even larger sizes. If there is a purpose for having the square footage in the building, this fenced area variance, so to speak, could undermine this purpose. As Sylvia recommends, and I concur, review the requirements of having 4,000 square feet for a liquor store and see if it is still a valid requirement. Staff has discussed this and we have come up with no sound reason as to why it exists other than perhaps for a tax base assurance when municipalities choose to not be in the off-sale liquor business. Do Grant Mr. Nissen a reasonable amount of time to move one or the other business (pawn shop or off-sale) to another location so as to conform to the ordinance(s). E. Other options which may arise from Council's discussion. Council Action: Based upon discussion. Reviewed By: Copies Also Distributed To: Police Chief Zoning Administrator City Administrator CC:06/29/92