Liquor on Minds of Residents on Opposite Sides of Town : East L.A. Community Is Guaranteed Voice in County Hearings on Permits

The Board of Supervisors, disturbed over links between neighborhood crime and the availability of liquor, gave East Los Angeles residents on Thursday more power to control new retail liquor outlets in their community.

With the backing of neighborhood activists and law enforcement officials, the board established a “a community standards district” in the nearly eight square miles of unincorporated territory in East Los Angeles. Within the district, county approval to sell liquor will be granted only after local residents are heard from.

The county zoning ordinance amendments will apply to new liquor stores, bars, cocktail lounges, convenience stores or restaurants where alcoholic beverages are sold. It will also cover establishments that may already have a liquor license but plan to substantially expand their operations.

Approved by a 3-1 vote, the amended ordinance is similar to those imposed last year on liquor outlets in Willowbrook and Altadena after complaints by residents. But unlike those ordinances, which dealt only with off-site sales, the East Los Angeles version will require conditional-use permits for “on-site and off-site liquor consumption.”

“This, by no means, does away with the sale of alcoholic beverages,” Supervisor Ed Edelman said, “but this is a new tool . . . that gives us the ability to regulate--not put people out of business--but to regulate (liquor sales).”

Edelman, who represents the East Los Angeles area, said that under the new ordinance, community groups and county officials can have a say on whether the location and operations of a new liquor outlet will be harmful to the neighborhood.

Under the ordinance, which will take effect in about 30 days, residents will be invited to public hearings where they may oppose applications for liquor sales. County officials may overrule the desires of residents, but appeals may be made to the Board of Supervisors.

The amendments apply more stringent requirements on how close liquor outlets can be to schools, playgrounds and churches as well as limitations on how many can be concentrated in one area.

Although they did not testify Thursday, local residents and sheriff’s deputies have long complained that the presence of 274 liquor outlets in East Los Angeles has contributed to neighborhood blight and a high crime rate.

And the board agreed Thursday that county officials should use the zoning process and the restrictions imposed by a conditional-use permit to severely limit liquor outlets. Liquor licenses are issued by the state Alcohol Beverage and Control Board only to outlets in approved areas.

In voting for the proposal, Supervisor Mike Antonovich called liquor outlets “a magnet for the drug sales and the prostitution activities that take place in these high crime areas” and said the ordinance is part of a countywide effort to stop proliferating liquor sales.