CYPRESS : Store Near School Gets OK on Liquor

The City Council this week narrowly agreed to allow a convenience market to resume selling liquor, despite the store’s location near an elementary school.

In a 3-2 vote, with council members Gail H. Kerry and Cecilia L. Age dissenting, Thuy Nguyen of Garden Grove was given permission to operate a liquor store in the Park Plaza Shopping Center, 6271 Ball Road, in Cypress across the road from Dickerson Elementary School in Buena Park.

Currently, the operators are allowed to sell beer and wine but needed the council’s approval to sell liquor. When Nguyen purchased the store in 1990, alcohol was not being sold. He has since received a license to sell liquor from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, the state agency which regulates liquor sales.

In 1984, previous owners gained city approval to sell liquor at the store but their permit had run out.

Kerry and Age objected because the city has “drug-free zones,” designed to keep drugs away from schoolyards. No one else spoke in opposition or in favor of the proposal during Monday’s hearing.

Under the drug-free plan which was adopted by the council last year, if a person is caught with an illegal substance within 1,000 feet of a school, one to three additional years can be tacked on to a sentence.

Calling the combination of alcohol and schools “dangerous,” Kerry said the drug-free zones should be extended to include liquor. “I believe our 1,000-foot drug-free zones should apply,” Kerry said.

However, the remaining members, including Mayor Richard Partin, did not agree. “I don’t feel it is a detriment to the school,” Partin said. “It is across a major thoroughfare.”