OXNARD : Gas Station Gets OK to Sell Alcohol

A self-service gas station on North Oxnard Boulevard may sell wine and beer, the Oxnard City Council decided Tuesday, overriding the Planning Commission’s denial of a sales permit.

With the decision, the council also reversed the stand it took two years ago, when it upheld the Planning Commission’s rejection of a request by the same applicant, Khosrow Lashkari.

Since then, the crime rate in the immediate vicinity has declined and the area is no longer considered a problem area, Oxnard Police Lt. Stan Myers said in a report.

But with 11 other establishments selling alcohol within 1,000 feet of the station, the Planning Commission rejected the permit in December, saying that another alcohol outlet would saturate the area.

Last April, the commission also denied for a second time a request to sell alcohol by the owner of a Texaco station two blocks north of Lashkari’s Mobil station. The council in November had granted an appeal filed by the owners of the Texaco station, saying that crime had dropped in the area by 25% since rejection of the application two years earlier.