On Tuesday, the Board of Adjustments decided to uphold the Planning Commission's decision not to grant Tundra Liquor Cache a conditional use permit.
This is the second time that Steve Chung has appealed the Bethel Planning Commission's refusal to grant a conditional use permit to Tundra Liquor Cache. The first time he appealed, the Bethel City Council, which sits as the Board of Adjustments for the appeals process, sent the issue back to the Planning Commission because they said that the Commission had not worked with Chung to address parking concerns. On June 8, the commission met and denied Chung's application for a conditional use permit again. They cited traffic and parking safety concerns, as well as neighborhood incompatibility.
During the second appeal to the City Council, Mayor Rick Robb made a motion to grant the appeal, which would have overturned the Planning Commission’s decision and given Steve Chung the permit. Councilwoman Alisha Welch and Councilman Leif Albertson voted for the motion, but it failed to get the four votes needed to overturn the Planning Commission's decision. Council members Mark Springer and Naim Shabani voted against the motion.
This doesn’t mean that it’s the end for the Tundra Liquor Cache application. Steve Chung has thirty days starting from June 21 to appeal the decision to the Superior Court.
Bethel City Clerk Lori Strickler said that she met with Steve Chung today to provide him documentation and audio recordings of the meetings.
“It is his right to appeal the decision of the Planning Commission to another body and agency,” said Strickler.
Kusko Liquor Store, Swanson’s, and Alaska Commercial Company still remain in the running for the third and final liquor license available in Bethel. Strickler said that no one can predict how long the process, both at the city and the Alcohol Beverage Control Board, could take.
The city just received notification from the Alcohol Beverage Control Board on the Swanson’s application. Strickler explained that this sets the clock ticking, giving the city sixty days to take action. The city can either decide to do nothing or to protest the application.
“If the protest is because of a zoning regulation that hasn’t been met by the applicant, then the Alcohol Beverage Control Board has an obligation in accordance with Alaska Statute Title 4 not to issue that license at that time,” said Strickler.
Strickler said that some other reasons for the city to protest could be the concentration of other package store licenses in the vicinity, concerns about traffic coming and going to a property, or other types of businesses or facilities in a neighborhood of the proposed liquor store.
The next meeting of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board will be on July 11.