WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – The West Sacramento City Council narrowly approved recommending the issuance of a Type 21 liquor license by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) for a proposed AM/PM gas station and convenience store at 15th Street and Jefferson Boulevard in the Old West Sacramento Neighborhood.

The resolution, passed 3-2 by the council at its July 16 meeting, finds “that a Public Convenience or Necessity (PCN) would be served” by issuance of the license, which allows for the sale of beer, wine and hard liquor. The application also went before the city’s Planning Commission because of the requirement for a Conditional Use Permit for selling hard liquor, with the commission voting 4-1, with two absences, to approve it.

That approval carries 33 specific conditions the station’s owner, Kamboj Oil, Inc., must follow. West Sacramento associate planner Elijah Ortega told the council some were standard while others were specific to the property, which has been owned and operated as an Arco station since 2012.

Of these, Ortega singled out condition number 11. That requires the city’s Community Development director and police chief to visit the property after a year of operation with the license to ensure compliance with the requirements and identify any recuring problems.

“At that time, if conditions arise and problems are identified, they can then reconsider the conditions of approval at this property,” Ortega said.

For Tobin Consultant owner Pete Tobin, Kamboj Oil owner Tony Mehroke’s project consultant, the conditions are among the most restrictive he has seen in involvement in more than 200 gas station projects.

“I’ve never seen anything this restrictive but the owner agreed to it,” Tobin added.

Other conditions included limiting the size of containers that alcohol could be sold in, shutting down alcohol sales after 10 p.m. and limits on alcohol advertising. The site must have adequate safety lighting and security cameras must be installed on the premise, with West Sacramento Police Department provided access to footage upon request.

The existing convenience market and smog shop building was built in 1950. The current project, which Mehroke said has grown from $4.5 million to $9.5 million, would completely redevelop the property, expand the fuel area, put in an AM/PM convenience store, quick-service restaurant and auto repair building.

Community Development Department staff recommended council approve the project because it would “modernize an aging and underutilized property, would provide frontage and site improvements and the conditions of approval would limit adverse impacts of alcohol sales at the property.”

Council concerns about the application centered around availability of alcohol in the area. Councilwoman Dawnté Early asked Ortega if there were any places within two to three miles of the location where alcohol could be purchased.

According to data from the U.S. Census tract, Ortega said, there were six, three that currently had Type 21 licenses and three with Type 20 licenses. A Type 20 license is limited to selling beer and wine.

“So, what I’m hearing is there are places within the vicinity to purchase liquor,” Early said.

Councilwoman Quirina Orozco pointed out the list didn’t include locations serving alcohol for onsite consumption, mentioning several in the area. Ortega confirmed there were a number of locations serving alcohol, adding ABC differentiates between onsite and offsite consumption with its licensing.

“But bottom line is there is an over concentration or at least a high concentration of locations where liquor can be purchased in that one, two-mile radius around the area,” Orozco said.

“In the census tract, yes, there is,” Ortega said. “The same is true for the city across the board as a whole.”

Mehroke said he had attempted to get a fast-food chain for the remodeled store but was not successful. Both he and Tobin said the only way to make the project work financially was to provide alcohol under a Type 21 license, with these products contributing an estimated 15% of the station’s revenues.

“It really helps your return on investment,” Tobin added. “If not, these franchises (AM/PM), oil companies just decide it doesn’t pencil out.”

Tobin said the Type 21 license Mehroke has is not a new license but an existing one he purchased, with use of the license in escrow until approval of the PCN. City Attorney Jeffrey Mitchell noted in this case, part of the question would be the availability of an existing Type 20 license on the market for purchase.

“Right,” Tobin said. “It’s not adding a new one. It’s buying an existing one.”

City Manager Aaron Laurel clarified it was ABC handling this part of the process. All council was being asked was to authorize submitting a letter determining a PCN for the site to ABC.

Ortega said that the police department had originally recommended the Planning Commission not endorse the PCN to Kamboj Oil. At the commission’s direction, the city and the department reanalyzed calls for service data and held further discussions with Mehroke, returning to the commission with the conditions of approval and the police department’s signoff on the PCN.

Mayor Martha Guerrero asked Ortega about the public notification process for the PCN, noting she had spoken to people in the area recently but had received no comments personally or via email.

Ortega said the city’s standard process was followed, notifying residents and businesses within 500 feet of the property along with publication with local media, a process he said happened once for each commission meeting and for the council.

“We did not receive any public comments on this project,” Ortega said.

Said Guerrero, “With that, I would feel comfortable in supporting this.”

Guerrero, Sulpizio Hull and Councilwoman Norma Alcala voted to approve the resolution. In voting no, both Orozco and Early said that there were already too many locations providing alcohol in the area.

Orozco pointed out the location was in her “neighborhood,” District 4, and was concerned with “what comes with hard liquor.”

Early said she was supportive of small businesses but that the project didn’t reflect community and family values the city was trying to promote with its development.

“I think we already have ample access to alcohol in this community,” Early added.