SHERMAN OAKS : Gas Station Owner Seeks Alcohol Permit

Sepulveda Boulevard does not need another beer and wine outlet, leaders of a homeowners group told a city zoning official at a recent hearing.

After listening to them and the businessman who wants to sell alcohol from his Shell Oil gas station at Sepulveda and Burbank boulevards, Associate Zoning Administrator William Lillenberg said he would issue a ruling in two to three weeks.

If Lillenberg grants a conditional use permit to owner Jack Khangura, he likely will impose conditions on the 24-hour mini-mart that Khangura wants to add to his station.

At the meeting, Khangura suggested a list of conditions under which he would be willing to operate. He said he would only sell beer and wine during certain hours and would not sell alcoholic beverages in single cans. He also promised not to sell wine or malt liquor with high alcohol contents, or to install outside signs advertising beer and wine.

After the meeting, Khangura met with local residents and a Los Angeles Police Department officer and agreed to cut back even more the hours during which he would sell alcohol, said Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. and Larry S. Turner, area real estate representative with Shell Oil.

According to Schultz and Turner, Khangura also said he would install brighter lights, remove pay phones in front of his gas station and re-landscape the site. Removing the pay phones will deter their use by prostitutes and drug dealers, they said.

“We know that reasonable conditions are necessary to monitoring beer and wine sales, so we’ve issued over a dozen voluntary conditions,” Turner said.

Schultz said, “Gas stations should be selling gas--they should not be selling alcohol.” He said alcohol sales at gas stations would encourage drinking and driving, attract crime and make it easier for under-age youths to buy alcohol.