UPDATE: The applicant could not make it to the CPAC meeting on June 23rd. The item will be considered later.

That's right, folks. Howe and El Camino could get ANOTHER liquor store - as if there aren't enough already on that corner! There are already four places to buy alcohol to-go - three convenience stores and a ful-fledged liquor store. Now the 99-cent Store in the strip mall with the liquor store and the Arco gas/convenience store wants to get in on the action. And with all the discount stores we already have in our community, imagine how many more 99-cent and dollar stores will petition for the same thing. What's next, used car dealers and check cashing places asking for liquor licenses?

We have written a lot about how Arden Arcade is already awash in liquor licenses and how the Supervisors never met a to-go liquor sales request they did not like. Is this one different? Maybe. This is the first one that will be considered by the Arden Arcade CPAC in a many moons and the first one on Supervisor Rich Desmond's watch. If you have an opinion on whether the County should grant it's umpteenth to-go liquor license - on a corner that is largely a homeless encampment, where unlicensed businesses that don't pay business license fees, rent or taxes are often found, and at a 99-cent discount store, you should feel free to let the CPAC know your opinion. The way the system works, the CPAC will recommend yea or nay on the liquor license to the County Planning Department. That's a change from the past, when such recommendations went directly to the Board of Supervisors). It isn't clear what happens after that, which is weird because the state's Alcohol Beverage Control laws* say the Board of Supervisors are on the hook for granting or denying the license.

CPAC meeting details: June 23rd, 7pm, Swanston Park Community Center, 2350 Northrup. There will apparently be teleconference access. Contact Lead Planner Haley Shaver about that at (916) 876-1215 or shaverh@saccounty.net.

* The California ABC Dept. says the number of liquor licenses is based on the census tract where the to-go alcohol sales would take place. In this case, there are already 5 to-go liquor licenses. With a population of 5619 people, this census tract should have only 3 such licenses.