Newport planning commission OKs alcohol sales for gas station market

A 76 gas station near Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach is getting a substantial makeover — a convenience store six times larger than the current one, with a second-story storage area, a Subway sandwich shop and a license to sell beer and wine.

But getting the city Planning Commission’s approval wasn’t easy, especially when it came to liquor sales.

Some commissioners wanted to restrict alcohol availability. Some were fine eliminating it altogether.

Some feared it would drive up crime. Others sought fairness in an area with a handful of stores that sell alcohol with relatively little restriction.

It took seven motions before the commissioners could narrowly settle on a plan.

A representative for the 76, at 1461 Superior Ave., came before the commissioners in November, but they put off a decision amid concerns about building height, hours of operation and the addition of beer and wine sales — the current one doesn’t sell liquor.

The owners proposed to replace the single-story, 648-square-foot store with a two-story, 32-foot-tall, 4,416-square-foot store that would include a Subway sandwich shop. The second floor would be a storage and office area. The single-bay car wash and 12 gas pumps would be unchanged.

The Newport Beach Police Department logged 244 crime reports in 2016 in the gas station area bounded roughly by Coast Highway, Newport Boulevard, 16th Street and Monrovia Avenue, making it a relative hot spot at 190% over the citywide average of reported crime. Of the 304 arrests in that area last year, 24% were directly related to alcohol. The most common crime was car burglary and most arrests were drug-related.

Newport Beach police routinely analyze crime, with a focus on alcohol-related crimes, when an alcohol-serving business seeks to open.

Wendy Joe, the Newport Beach police investigator who gathered the statistics, said that based on her analysis, the Police Department has no objection to the new liquor license. She added that the area isn’t saturated with businesses that sell alcohol.

Commissioner Lauren Kleiman said more easy access to alcohol spells trouble.

“The parameters are what they are. That doesn’t mean that the threshold is as high as most of us would like to see it here as we preserve our quality of life, the quality of life that we have come to appreciate and enjoy as Newport Beach residents,” she said. “As I said last time, I think the addition of a convenience store with alcohol sales is unnecessary. I think it invites unwanted issues without clear justification or need.”

Commission Secretary Erik Weigand said he wanted the store to succeed but was concerned with saturation.

Applicant Joseph Karaki said the store would only have alcohol behind two or three cooler doors, not the full liquor section of a walk-in cooler.

“This is a convenience store. This is not a liquor store,” he said. “We’re not promoting beer and wine. It’s just a convenience.”

The string of motions started with one by Chairman Peter Koetting to allow the store and gas pumps to operate until midnight, but cut off alcohol sales at 10 p.m. It died for lack of a second.

Vice Chairman Peter Zak said he had a hard time constraining the 76 station when the 7-Eleven across the street sells alcohol until 2 a.m.

His motion to allow gas, alcohol and all other store sales until midnight — as suggested by city staff — with a six-month review, died, 4-2.

“The fact that there’s alcohol sales in another city across the street doesn’t mean we’re trying to go mano a mano, and so if they do it we should. I think we have to deal with the fact of what alcohol sales does in general to neighborhoods,” said Commissioner Bill Dunlap, one of the nays.

Zak said that’s a policy issue for the City Council, not for the commission.

Kleiman pitched a motion to fully block alcohol sales. It also died 4-2.

Zak made a new motion, to stop alcohol sales at 10, with a six-month review. It tied 3-3; ties are failures per city rules. Then Weigand moved to cease alcohol sales at 7 p.m., but withdrew it after Karaki objected.

After deadlocking, the commission decided to wait until Commissioner Kory Kramer arrived. He had planned to arrive late.

That was the swing vote.

On a new motion, to allow the project as proposed but with alcohol cut off at 10 p.m. and a prohibition on “singles” — such as 40-ounce malt liquors or oversized “tall boy” beers — the store’s vision passed, 4-3. Weigand, Dunlap and Kleiman voted no.

In addition to the liquor restriction, the store will be 24 feet tall, rather than 32, and about 600 square feet smaller, or about 4,000 square feet. It will operate from 6 a.m. to midnight.

From 10 p.m. to closing, the liquor coolers will be padlocked.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD