The request for a retail liquor store - Hilltop Liquor - at 165 W. Pickens Rd. has again come before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Pea Ridge city officials received a letter Monday notifying them of the hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, in Little Rock.
The application by Chuck Simmons, whose name was not drawn initially June 12, wasredrawn after several applications were denied, according to Michael Langley, director of the ABC.
“We turned down a bunch of them, so we moved on to the next group,” Langley said, explaining that each applicant drawn receives a hearing, at which time distance to churches and schools and local opinion is considered. He said about 13 applicants were denied.
“We have a board that conducts this hearing,” he said.
“They make a decision right there.”
Langley said anyone may com ment on the application by letter or in person. “It certainly carries more weight if they appear in person. That’s the time to speak to the board,” he said.
Simmons appeared before the Pea Ridge City Planning Commission on May 7 requesting a conditional use permit. It was denied because of the proximity of the location to a church, the fact that the property laybetween the school campuses along a busy section of street and there was public objection to the location.
State law requires a liquor store to be more than 1,000 feet from a school or school, with the measurement being made from point on the building, not the property. Whereas the location is 1,004 feet from the Intermediate School building, it is 969 feet from the Methodist Church.
An ABC investigator, Bill Kruse, sent a letter to the city that the site was too close to a church for a permit. Simmons appealed to the City Council at the May 21 meeting.
At that time, after much discussion, the question was tabled on the advise of City Attorney
Howard Slinkard, who said more information was needed. The ABC drawing was held June 12 and Simmons name was not drawn. At the June 18
City Council meeting, Slinkard recommended the council vote on the issue they had tabled the month before. Council member Bob Cottingham made a motion to uphold the Planning Commission decision as recommended by the mayor, but the motion
died for lack of a second.
News, Pages 1 on 09/11/2013