Agenda Item C.2 DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEM Meeting Date: May 5, 2015

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1 Agenda Item C.2 CPMS DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEM Meeting Date: May 5, 2015 TO: FROM: Mayor and Councilmembers Jennifer Carman, Director of Planning and Environmental Services CONTACT: Lisa Prasse, Current Planning Manager SUBJECT: Proposed Type 21 Alcohol License at 180 N. Fairview Road RECOMMENDATION: Determine if the public convenience or necessity exists to support the Type 21 Alcohol License request at 180 N. Fairview Road. BACKGROUND: The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) governs the issuance of licenses to sell alcohol for both on-site and off-site consumption at retail establishments. The sale of alcohol for off-site consumption is governed either by Type 20 (beer and wine only) or Type 21 (all categories of alcoholic beverages). Presently within the City of Goleta, there are 19 establishments that have a Type 20 license and 15 establishments that have a Type 21 license for a total of 34 businesses that sell alcohol beverages for off-site consumption. Recently, the City received notice from ABC that the Fuel Depot business located at 180 N. Fairview Road has applied to change their license type from a Type 20 to a Type 21 (Attachment 1). The site in question has a General Plan land use designation of Intersection and a zoning designation of Shopping Center. Both of these designations allow service stations and food and drug uses. Currently, all of the gas stations that sell alcohol only sell beer and wine (a Type 20 license). The business owner has been exploring how best to pursue expansion of the convenience store over the past year; however, the change in license type could occur without the expansion of the convenience store. As part of the licensing process, the City Council has an opportunity to weigh in on whether the issuance of a license would further the public convenience or necessity. The City Council has delegated authority the City Manager (by Council Resolution 11-20) to provide feedback to ABC on whether the public convenience or necessity would 1

2 be served by the issuance of routine ABC licenses. However, the unique policy questions associated with this request, the only request for a Type 21 license at a gas station, staff determined that this matter should be reviewed by Council. Staff notes that some jurisdictions utilize the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process to regulate the type, location, and number of businesses selling alcoholic beverages. DISCUSSION: The question before the City Council is: does this proposed change in license type from a Type 20 to a Type 21 serve the public convenience or necessity? If the license change is allowed, this would be the only gas station within the City to sell not only beer and wine, but hard liquor as well. There is a significant public policy against driving under the influence of alcohol and a significant effort is made by the Sheriff s Office in Goleta to address drunk driving. As gas station is by definition a business that supports vehicular driving; the question then arise is the public convenience or necessity served by combining this use with a Type 21 license? As far as staff can determine, there are only two other gas stations (Fuel Depot on the Mesa and Fuel Depot on Carrillo) in the Goleta/Santa Barbara/Carpentaria area that operate with a Type 21 license. The State also considers whether the area has an overconcentration of alcohol licenses in determining whether public convenience or necessity warrants the license. There are a total of 34 active off-sale licenses within the City of Goleta. According to the ABC Frequently Asked Question handout (Attachment 2), an area can limit the number of off-sale licenses based on population (1 for every 2,500 people for a Type 20 and 1 for every 1,250 people for both Type 20 and 21). Based on Goleta s population, the number of total licenses (Type 20 and Type 21 in combination) of 24 for the entire city is sufficient concentration to support the population. If the population criterion is limited to the Census Tract where the business is located (Census Tract hereinafter referred to as ), there would be an overconcentration of licenses based on the criteria of one license for every 1,250 people. According to the 2010 Census, there are 3,000 residents within Census Tract This should result in no more than three off-site sales licenses within this area. There are 7 active and operational businesses with off-site sales licenses (Type 20 and 21) within this Census Tract. These businesses are shown in the following table: BUSINESS NAME LICENSE TYPE Albertsons Type 21 CVS Type 21 Fairview Fuel Depot Type 20 * Nikka Japanese Market Type 20 Trader Joe s Type 21 Valero Market/Gas Station Type 20 Walgreens Type 21 *Proposing to change to Type 21 2

3 Meeting Date: May 5, 2015 In addition, there are two additional. businesses (Haggen and Rite Aid) located just outside of the Census Tract in question, that also have Type 21 licenses. Over the six businesses with Type 21 licenses in close proximity to 180 N. Fairview, four of these locations are within 1,000 feet of the site and the other two are approximately 1,600 feet of the site. With the information provided above, the City Council is asked to review the request and determine if the public convenience/ necessity exists to support the Type 21 alcohol license request at 180 N. Fairview Road. Lastly, after making a determination on this specific matter, the City Council may wish to provide direction to staff regarding the idea of requiring CUPs for alcohol uses as part of the new Zoning Ordinance. FISCAL IMPACTS: There is no fiscal impact associated with this project. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Council could choose to support a change in license type or not; or 2. Continue this item for additional information and/or discussion. Legal Review By: Approved By: TimW. Giles City Attorney ~ City Manager ATTACHMENTS: 1. ABC Application for 180 N. Fairview 2. ABC Frequently Asked Questions Handout 3. Census Tract Map Page 3 of 3 3

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