Request Denied for Liquor Permit

The City Council denied a request for a gas station to add a liquor license to its operating business permit after residents spoke against the proposal Tuesday night.

An applicant for Thrifty Oil Co. tried for about nine months to buy up six existing liquor licenses from business owners throughout west Anaheim with the aim of making five of them inactive and transferring one to an ARCO station at 304 S. Magnolia Ave., according to spokesman David Rose.

Rose said the move would actually benefit the city by decreasing the total number of outlets selling alcohol throughout Anaheim. The cost of buying up those licenses was in the six-figure range, he added.

“We’re actually taking away five licenses,” Rose said. “We’re trying to clean up the neighborhood.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve Rose’s request in December, but residents appealed the decision to the City Council.

Two dozen residents of the West Anaheim Neighborhood Development Council, wearing orange ribbons to oppose the plan, attended the City Council meeting.

West Anaheim Neighborhood Development chairwoman Esther Wallace said some of those licenses in escrow with Thrifty Oil Co. no longer exist with an operating business anyway.

Wallace added that the gas station, which has been at the location for about two years, is just 450 feet from an elementary school and the area already has too many venues selling alcohol, which end up attracting loiterers and others who litter.