Council Grants Appeal, Approves Alcohol Sales Permit
The Menifee City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the application for an alcohol sales license by a local grocery store owner, ove...
http://www.menifee247.com/2013/05/council-grants-appeal-approves-alcohol-sales-permit.html
The Menifee City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the application for an alcohol sales license by a local grocery store owner, overruling a previous decision by the Planning Commission.
Council members essentially ruled that there was not sufficient reason to deny the permit to Eyad Shalabi, the owner of California Ranch market at 27526 Highway 74 in the Romoland section of Menifee. The permit allows him to sell beer and wine for off-site consumption.
Shalabi and Brenda Van Dyke, owner of the building, filed the appeal, arguing that the Planning Commission's 4-1 denial of the application in an April 23 meeting was unfairly based on moral opposition and concerns about another alcohol vendor in the area.
"Our type of business, we are like Winco or Albertson's, but on a smaller scale," Shalabi said. "We have a full butcher shop and a full produce department. Beer and wine is a convenience, a service. It is important to us ... so we don't lose that business. We don't want customers to skip us in favor of Winco."
Council members essentially ruled that there was not sufficient reason to deny the permit to Eyad Shalabi, the owner of California Ranch market at 27526 Highway 74 in the Romoland section of Menifee. The permit allows him to sell beer and wine for off-site consumption.
Shalabi and Brenda Van Dyke, owner of the building, filed the appeal, arguing that the Planning Commission's 4-1 denial of the application in an April 23 meeting was unfairly based on moral opposition and concerns about another alcohol vendor in the area.
"Our type of business, we are like Winco or Albertson's, but on a smaller scale," Shalabi said. "We have a full butcher shop and a full produce department. Beer and wine is a convenience, a service. It is important to us ... so we don't lose that business. We don't want customers to skip us in favor of Winco."
“I think that’s a little too much, three (alcohol vendors) in one section. I’m really not for this,” said Commissioner Anne Pica during the meeting.
ReplyDeleteThe city conducted a study and found the area has few outlets for alcohol sales.
The Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control indicates there is room for more.
“There do not appear to be too many (alcohol retailers).
It would appear some members of the planning commission don’t have a clue and base their decisions strictly on emotion rather than facts. It doesn’t instill much confidence in the future for Menifee with a group of amateurs making important recommendations in these matters. The qualifications of this panel needs to be scrutinized and appropriate action taken to replace the members unsuitable for this position.
It's a sad day for Menifee when when have people like Ann Pica making these decisions! Time to put pressure on the council to remove these members!
DeleteWhy Charge local community Business's an arm and a leg to advertise on your site? Then you have people who want to let the community know about a local charity event but you won't call them back because it won't generate "Money" for your website. Maybe I should start my own Menifee website to help the community! Not to benefit your own pocketbooks.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for any lack of response on our part here at Menifee 24/7. I am happy to discuss this matter with you, and I think most will agree we do a lot to let the community know about local charity events.
DeleteI can't help you or reply to a message that is left anonymously as a comment here. Please email doug.spoon@gmail.com to let me know about your event and I will be happy to post it.
Sounds to me like a cheapskate trying to get a freebie. By all means they should start their own website and fund it from their own pocket.Lets see how long they last.
DeleteRecently, Anne Pica, a long-time city critic, but now appointed to our Planning Commission, voted to allow a towering 45 foot tall sign on Hwy 74 for a jack in the box. Hwy 74 is an eligible scenic highway. The rest of the commission showed more care, and disagreed.
ReplyDeleteWe hope Pica will not continue to destroy our city with these poor decisions regarding the Romoland community of Menifee.
A better description would be city “fault-finder”, as one who had no solutions or improvements to offer. The lack of knowledge about planning matters is painfully apparent: a totally unsuited commission member appointed by an equally unsuited council member.
DeleteNew Councilman August appointed Anne Pica to Planning Commission for this reason:
ReplyDeleteCronyism.
Menifee now has 2 new commissioners that know absolutely nothing of community planning. This is becomming evident each meeting they have.
We have Greg August to blame. It is time to form the RECALL committee and rid this city of lame beaurocrats.
Déjà-vu. How ironic would that be for these two cronies to be the target of a recall after their antics of the last four years?
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