Alcohol licenses were once again the hot topic at the third Beach Alcohol Task Force meeting Monday, Dec. 18, at the Wave House in Mission Beach.
The gathering picked up the discussion on issuance where the November meeting left off.
Task force chair and District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer jumped right into the presentations and decided to hold public comment at the end of the meeting. Previously, public comment was scheduled for the beginning of the meetings, which created scheduling problems last month.
The crowd packed the Wavehouse, leaving standing room only for latecomers. The audience comprised a younger demographic; a large number were hospitality workers wishing to point out how the industry’s benefits the community.
Lt. Carolyn Kendrick and Sgt. Ernest Herbert from the San Diego Police Department VICE unit explained off-sale licenses, or licenses for establishments that serve alcohol for consumption off-site.
Herbert said resolution R-294124, adopted in 2000, authorized the police department to determine public convenience or necessity (PCN) for alcoholic beverage licensing for all off-sale liquor licenses and certain on-sale liquor licenses.
ABC and its hearing officer still have the final word when issuing or denying a license; however, the police department offers its recommendation to ABC during the investigation process.
Herbert said the department considers specific criteria when determining PCN, among them whether the business is:
“¢ Offering a service not currently provided
“¢ Located within a 600-foot radius of schools, churches, parks, homeless shelters and alcohol rehabilitation centers
“¢ Located in a high crime area, or an area with 20 percent more crime reported than the average
“¢ If the location had a previous license revoked within the past year
“¢ If the applicant has been convicted of a felony
Any one of the criteria may be sufficient grounds for denial.
In response to questions of beach area crime rates and concentration of licenses, police statistician Joe Dalton said that all census tracks south of Grand and Garnet avenues down into Ocean Beach are high crime.
Herbert noted, however, that there are “pockets” within certain census tracks that are not high in crime or over-concentrated. He pointed to Voltaire Street and Catalina Boulevard, and Catalina Boulevard and Talbot Street in Point Loma as having a low-concentration of alcohol licenses and average to below average crime rates.
Lucy Contreras from the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), downtown’s redevelopment arm, addressed Conditional Use Permits (CUP) when issuing on-sale liquor licenses, licenses for establishments serving alcohol on-site.
Faulconer and the task force wanted to learn more about the process and effectiveness of CUPs downtown for possible use in beach communities.
A CUP is intended for land uses that require special consideration. CUPs are often used for schools and churches that wish to be located in residential zoning areas.
Contreras explained that CUPs work in the Gaslamp Quarter because many of their bars and restaurants also provide entertainment and sometimes double as a nightclub.
Applicants that are not proposing live entertainment, music or dancing are not required to obtain a CUP and CCDC issues a letter of approval to ABC and the applicant continues with the licensing process through ABC.
Since many of the businesses in the beach communities are bars or restaurants without live entertainment or amplified music, Contreras could not speculate how effective CUPs would be in those areas.
Dan Joyce from the city’s Development Services Department spoke briefly about amending the Land Development Code so that beach communities could require CUPs for on-sale licenses.
Hill, Herbert, Contreras and Joyce will attend the January meeting, which will consist of an open discussion with task force members and the public on past agenda items.
Faulconer said he hopes to discuss recommendations for action on liquor licenses at that time.
Faulconer mentioned future meetings would address house parties and alcohol on the beach.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 22, at 6:30 p.m. Faulconer said he would look for a larger venue to accommodate the growing crowd, though in the meantime the meeting is scheduled at the Pacific Beach Library, 4275 Cass St.
For information on previous task force meetings, visit www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd2/news/index.shtml.