How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday night indicated it is willing to grant the city’s new Dollar General store a liquor license to sell beer and wine, a process expected to be completed next month.
The new store, which opened in January, is located at 1405 S. Main St. It’s the third Dollar General in Lake County. Two on the Northshore, in Clearlake Oaks and Nice, opened in 2015.
There also have been efforts to build a Dollar General in Kelseyville, which the community has so far fended off.
In Middletown, there has been an ongoing fight to keep out a Dollar General, but that project has received the go-ahead from the county and is now awaiting final design review and a hearing before the Lake County Planning Commission.
More recently, an application has been submitted for a Dollar General in Upper Lake. That project is incomplete, but once the final items are submitted, a 180-day environmental review period will begin. No Lake County Planning Commission hearing has so far been set, according to Mireya Turner, a Lake County Community Development Department staffer handling the Dollar Projects who also is a member of the Lakeport City Council.
Turner and her fellow council members on Tuesday heard a presentation from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen, who recommended they approve the Dollar General liquor license.
The staff report for the discussion begins on page 146 of the agenda packet below and can be seen starting at the 1:02:35 mark in the video above.
Rasmussen said the company is seeking a Type 20 off sale beer and wine sales license. In granting it, California’s Alcohol Beverage Control looks at several factors, including location in a crime reporting district which has a 20-percent greater number of reported crimes than other reporting districts within a particular law enforcement jurisdiction, and undue concentration of current alcohol licenses.
In this case, Rasmussen said there is an undue concentration of liquor licenses in Lakeport based on the definition in California Business and Professional Code Section 23958.4. He said there are not separate crime reporting districts in the city; the only district is the entire city itself.
According to Rasmussen, despite the undue concentration issue, ABC can still issue the license if the City Council determines public convenience or necessity would be served by it.
“Based on our police department’s calls for service and knowledge of the types of calls we get as related to liquor license establishments, I do not feel that the issuance of a beer and wine license for that Dollar General location will create any increased crime, just based on the fact that they’re selling beer and wine,” he said.
Rasmussen said he also looks at loitering and other nuisance crimes when assessing such a request, explaining that those types of problems aren’t seen with such beer and wine liquor licenses in the city.
City Attorney David Ruderman said that the council has broad discretion in determining public convenience and necessity, and that it’s up to the council to make such determinations on a case by case basis. He asked the council to provide staff with direction so they can return with a resolution with the appropriate findings.
Regarding the matter of undue concentration, Ruderman explained that it means that the ratio of such licenses within Lakeport is greater than it is within the county as a whole. “That’s all they look at.”
There was no in-person public input on the matter at Tuesday night’s meeting, but a letter was submitted by Lakeport resident John Saare, who had been at the meeting but had to leave for another event, as well as an email from Sacramento-based Grundman Law, both advocating against approving the liquor license request.
Consultant Steve Rawlings of Murietta-based Alcoholic Beverage Specialists appeared before the council on behalf of Dollar General.
“Dollar General, I know, is happy to be here as part of the community,” he said, explaining that the company, previously based mostly east of the Mississippi, is one of the largest U.S. retailers with more than 15,000 stores in 41 states.
Dollar General has more than 200 stores in California and more than 200 active ABC licenses, with beer and wine standard inventory items, Rawlings said.
Rawlings said the stores usually have two to four cooler doors and one to three shelving units devoted to beer and wine, and they don’t sell singles. He said their inventory is intended for the person shopping for the entire family, and it’s meant to be convenient.
Councilman Kenny Parlet, who owns Lakeview Market and Deli in Lucerne, quizzed Rawlings about what kinds of meat and fresh vegetables are available at the stores. Rawlings acknowledged that they may not have those items.
Later in the discussion, Parlet said he was shocked to find out Dollar General didn’t already have a beer and wine license. In spite of not being a fan of Dollar General, he didn’t think it was fair to deny the license to the store.
Turner said she thought the area where the store is located is appropriate for such retail.
City Manager Margaret Silveira said staff could have the resolution approving the liquor license ready for the next city council meeting.
Ruderman said the city had only received the completed application on Feb. 12, and an additional meeting will be sufficient to meet the license requirements.
“I don’t particularly care for the Dollar General,” said Mayor Tim Barnes, but he said not allowing the store to have the license “is kind of petty.”
The council gave staff direction to bring back the resolution for the March 5 meeting, which Rawlings indicated he would attend.
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