New Liquor Licensing Law Proves Convenient

With residents and police calling for less tolerance of alcohol-related crime and mischief, officials in cities across Orange County have started taking advantage of a new state law that gives them more control over liquor permits.

When reviewing applications to sell booze, cities are now allowed to consider whether granting the permit would be “convenient” for the public.

For example, if an applicant is in a neighborhood that has a small number of alcohol outlets, officials can decide whether the addition would benefit residents shopping for beer, wine or liquor.

This so-called “convenience factor” has been used often in Anaheim, where officials have all but stopped granting liquor licenses to businesses in one neighborhood. Brookhurst Street in west Anaheim has one of the highest concentrations of bars, nightclubs and liquor stores in the county, and residents and police say the proliferation of liquor outlets adds to the neighborhood’s blight and deterioration.

“Why do the two go together? I don’t know,” said Bob Messe, chairman of the planning commission in Anaheim. “They don’t have to, but our experience certainly shows they do.”

Last week, Anaheim officials denied two Brookhurst Street liquor permit requests but granted one to a grocery store about five miles away. The license will make it “more convenient” for the store’s customers who don’t want to make two stops to buy booze, or for women who may feel uncomfortable going to a liquor store, Messe said.

“You don’t want to make it absolutely inconvenient for people to buy goods,” he said. “Location is the biggest factor now.”

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Police say intoxication is the common denominator in a wide array of crimes, from bar fights and reckless driving to domestic violence and vandalism. Officers in some cities, especially along the county’s beaches, say they deal with public drunkenness calls several times a day and more than half of the arrests they make are alcohol-related.

“It’s a real problem because it eats up a lot of resources,” Sgt. John Desmond of the Newport Beach Police Department said. “It can become very expensive when you look at it in that context.”

Still, officials remain at odds over how to balance the needs of commerce and law enforcement. Already this year, divided council members in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and La Habra have debated how stringent they should be when issuing permits to potential alcohol outlets.

Costa Mesa officials recently considered a temporary ban on all new liquor licenses but decided such action would be prohibitive. “It’s a difficult balance to strike,” Costa Mesa Mayor Peter Buffa said.

The new state law lets police officials review liquor applications and make a recommendation to council members on whether to grant or deny the permit. In Orange, for example, police have challenged seven or eight permits in the last year but approved at least 15 others.

Other cities have addressed residents’ complaints about alcohol-related nuisances by putting restrictions on all liquor permits. For example, Seal Beach merchants cannot sell alcohol after 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends. Laguna Beach prohibits businesses within 200 feet of Main Beach from selling booze, a rule that recently prevented a minimart gas station off Coast Highway from stocking beer or wine.

Such prohibitive measures concern some business owners, who worry that stricter liquor ordinances will drive customers away from Orange County.

“We are competing for dollars, plain and simple,” said Stan Anderson, a Seal Beach restaurant owner and president of the city’s business association. “The council should look more at who the applicant is and how responsible they are, rather than just numbers.”

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Newport Beach officials recently did just that, giving a liquor license to a neighborhood bar despite its location in a high-crime area and within 200 feet of homes. Police and neighbors recommended that the application of Blackie’s by the Sea be denied based on those factors, adding that its location is near the Newport Pier, which already has a high concentration of liquor licenses.

But council members said they considered the bar’s 33-year history in Newport Beach, during which the owner has served beer and wine and has shown himself to be “a good neighbor.”

Merchants who feared that tougher requirements would hurt their businesses said the city’s decision on Blackie’s was a turning point in their relationship.

“We didn’t want a precedent to be set,” said Dan Marcheano, president of the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. “It was a big victory.”