At last night’s Planning Commission meeting, Steven Chung’s Tundra Liquor Cache was turned down again for a conditional use permit. The Planning Commission discussion was a bit more a complicated this time around. The Commission couldn’t take opponents who gave testimony into consideration because it was an appeal and had to be based on evidence already taken when the Commission initially turned the application down.
Chung appealed the denial to the City Council, sitting as the Board of Adjustment, in May. The Board of Adjustment then sent the application back to the Planning Commission for further clarification of their decision making process. That’s because the Board felt that not enough of an effort was made by the Planning Commission to seek solutions in working with Chung to meet permit requirements. The Planning Commission had also lost part of the record for their initial decision when their recorder had unexpectedly stopped working.
The Planning Commission members reviewed their initial findings and decided to hold to their decision, turning down the application due to traffic, parking, and safety concerns. The Tundra Liquor Cache application will now go back to the Board of Adjustment. Steven Chung, not hopeful of a favorable outcome at this point, said that he’s still willing to see it through to the end.
The Planning Commission also reviewed the Kusko Liquor Store application last night, but their final vote on that issue has been held until their next meeting on July 13.