City Council Preview - July 21

Tuesday night (July 21) the agenda is going to be full, with 3 items that are likely to generate a lot of discussion –

• · An appeal of the Planning Commission decision to allow another store to sell beer and alcohol.
• · The contract with the OC Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) and whether or not the City should establish an ad hoc committee to explore alternatives. (Click Here)
• · The City’s response to the OC Grand Jury report about the OC animal shelter, and a discussion about animal care in general, with the possibility of working with neighboring cities to establish our own multi-city shelter. (Click Here)

Today and tomorrow I’m going to discuss the appeal of the Planning Commission decision. Following that I’ll discuss the Police contract and on Monday we’ll look at animal care.

BACKGROUND

The State’s Alcohol Beverage Control Department (ABC) was established to administer the provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act in a manner that fosters and protects the health, safety, welfare, and economic well-being of the people of the State. Among other things, it issues licenses to retail stores that “authorize the sale of all types of wine and malt beverages for consumption off the premises in original, sealed containers.” The number of off-sale beer and wine licenses is limited to one for each 2,500 people in a city or county. (Section 23817.5)

The City’s policy for alcoholic beverage licensing was established by the Council in 1998 and is contained in Resolution 98-42. This policy gives the decision to make the determination (PCN or Public Convenience or Necessity) in areas of undue concentration to the Planning Commission or Development Services Director.

CURRENT SITUATION

According to the ABC, Lake Forest has 158 outlets where alcohol can be purchased for use on site and off site - 43 of these outlets are off-site, and 22 of the 43 are Type 20 licenses for which the applicant is requesting approval.

Among the 12 cities in South Orange County, Lake Forest has the 5th highest concentration based on population. 3 of the 4 cities that exceed Lake Forest are “tourist towns” where one expects to find excess access to alcohol - Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.

At 1 outlet for every 496 people, Lake Forest has a higher concentration of outlets selling alcohol (off/on site) on a per capita basis than Irvine, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, San Juan Capistrano, and Ranch Santa Margarita.

The same holds true for off-site outlets only. At 1 outlet for every 1792 people, Lake Forest has a higher concentration of outlets selling alcohol (off site) on a per capita basis than Irvine, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, San Juan Capistrano, and Ranch Santa Margarita.

APPLICANT

The applicant is a store at 24882 Muirlands and the owner is applying for a Type 20 license to sell beer and wine. His request in 2013 was denied by the Planning Commission, and in 2015 his request was denied by the Director of Developmental Services. However, he appealed to the Planning Commission, was approved by them, but their decision was appealed to the City Council.

At present 22 stores have a Type 20 license and the City has an ultimate limit of 31 licenses.

The store is in Census tract 0320.14 that already has 7 stores with existing off-site licenses, and within a short distance, in adjoining census tracts, there are 5 more stores. According to ABC standards the census tract would be fully saturated with 3 stores. Having 7 stores in existence means that this tract already has more than twice as many stores based on the population.

IMPACT OF ALCOHOL

DUI

In 2012, 10,322 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, and 345,000 were injured. These alcohol- impaired driving fatalities accounted for 31 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States. An average of 1 alcohol-impaired driving fatality occurred every 51 minutes in 2012.

According to the CDC the annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion.

The most recent data available for Lake Forest for 2007 to 2011 shows a yearly average of 232 DUI arrests and 32 alcohol related accidents.

CRIME

While drinking and driving receive most of the media attention, the relationship between alcohol and crime in general is even more important. The causal relationship between alcohol and crimes such as domestic abuse and violence, underage drinking, robbery, assault and sexual assault is clearly documented.

• · The Department of Justice estimates that a majority of criminal offenders were under the influence of alcohol alone when they committed their crimes.
• · Research shows that for the 40% of convicted murderers being held in either jail or State prison, alcohol use was a factor in the homicide.

It is not mere happenstance that the cities in South Orange County that have the highest crime rates, per capita are also the cities that have the highest concentration of stores selling alcohol – Dana Point, Laguna Hills, San Juan Capistrano, and Lake Forest. Similarly, those cities with the lowest crime rates per capita also have the lowest concentrations (per capita) of stores selling alcohol – Laguna Woods, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Irvine, and Mission Viejo.

Cities with liquor outlets for every 500 or fewer people average 1,604 serious crimes per 100,000 while cities with liquor outlets for every 1,000 or more people average only 720 serious crimes per 100,000. That’s a heck of a difference.

SUMMARY

With this information in mind, each request to allow a new store to sell beer and wine must be weighed taking in mind the rights of the business owner, the rights of the consumer, and the health and safety of the community.

Tomorrow we’ll look at some guidelines that can help us in making this determination.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

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