Maple Grove City Council Approves Penalties for Liquor License Violations

Update: July 18 Maple Grove City Council meeting coverage

All eight businesses brought before the Maple Grove City Council in June 2011 for liquor license violations officially received a civil penalty or a civil penalty and liquor license suspension at the Monday, July 18 City Council meeting.

A list of the businesses involved and coverage of the June 20 meeting is outlined below.

The City Council unanimously voted to approve individual resolutions for each business "making the findings, conclusion and decision" imposing the civil penalty and/or license suspension, with the exception of .

Councilmembers Phil Leith and Erik Johnson opposed the license suspension for Angel's Liquor during the July 18 regular meeting. However, the resolution still passed imposing both a civil penalty and temporary liquor license suspsension on the Maple Grove business.

A full copy of the July 18 Maple Grove City Council agenda and supporting documents can be found here.

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June 20, 2011 meeting coverage: Eight Maple Grove businesses were brought before the Maple Grove City Council Monday, June 20 for liquor license violations.

According to a city memo relating to each business, conducted alcohol compliance checks on May 18 and “alcohol was served to a minor undercover/decoy…”

Although seven of the eight businesses took the opportunity to speak before the Maple Grove City Council, none denied the allegations or requested a hearing on the matter. Instead, most of the businesses talked about what they have implemented and their current efforts to prevent future alcohol compliance check failures.

Each establishment was treated and heard individually and separately by the City Council at the regular meeting on Monday, June 20.

“Seven of you took an id from the decoy. It says ‘under 21.’ I read the reports and it just screams there is a decoy with a cop standing behind them. It continues to baffle me that people continue to fail these check,” Councilmember Erik Johnson said prior to hearing comments from the businesses.

Here’s a list of the businesses presented before the council for liquor license violations and how the council voted.

The actual fines and suspensions listed below are anticipated to be put to a final vote by the Maple Grove City Council at the Monday, July 18 meeting. The severity of the penalty imposed by the City Council appeared to be related to the number of past violations, when they occurred as well as on-sale or off-sale liquor license status.

The actions voted on at the June 20 City Council meeting were motions to “direct staff to prepare appropriate findings of fact and conclusions…”

• , located at 7496 East Fish Lake Road. Previous liquor violations occurred at the same business in December 1999 and October 2005, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 3-2 vote, the Maple Grove City Council voted for a civil penalty of $2,000 and two-day suspension.
• , located at 7750 Main St. Previous liquor violations occurred at the same business in March 2000 and August 2003, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove City Council voted for a civil penalty of $2,000 and two-day suspension.
• , located at 9881 Maple Grove Parkway. A previous liquor violation occurred at the same business in November 2008, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove City Council voted for a civil penalty of $2,000 and five-day suspension.
• Curry Up Restaurant & Grocery, located at 13601 Grove Drive. A previous liquor violation occurred in November 2009, according to a memo provided to the City Council.  According to City Administrator Al Madsen, Curry Up told the city they would be turning in their beer and wine liquor license by the end of June, “as it has not been profitable to them.”
• , located at 7825 Vinewood Lane. A previous liquor violation occurred in October 2010, according to a memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove City Council voted for a civil penalty of $2,000 and five-day suspension.
• , located at 11780 Fountains Way. It was the first liquor violation for Dave & Buster’s, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove voted for a civic penalty of $2,000 and two-day suspension.
• , located at 16475 96th Ave. N. It was the first liquor violation for MGM Wines & Spirits, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove voted for a civic penalty of $2,000.
• Italian Restaurant, located at 12520 Elm Creek Boulevard. It was the first liquor violation for the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, according to a staff memo provided to the City Council. By a 5-0 vote, the Maple Grove voted for a civic penalty of $2,000 and two-day suspension.

At the conclusion of the items relating to liquor violations, Madsen said he didn’t understand “how we could continue to have these violations.” 

“This continues to baffle me as well,” he said, referring to Johnson’s earlier comment.  

A full copy of the June 21 Maple Grove City Council agenda and supporting documents can be found here.