Countywide : Gas Station/Mini-Mart Liquor Sales Pondered

Anaheim city officials will grapple today with a problem that is becoming a concern to several Orange County cities--whether to allow gas stations to sell alcoholic beverages.

At the request of the city’s Planning Commission, which has consistently denied applications for gas station/mini-marts that sell liquor, wine or beer, Anaheim council members are scheduled to decide whether to create an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages at gas stations.

Mayor Pro Tem Ben Bay said Monday that he doubts his colleagues are ready to vote a blanket prohibition on alcohol sales at mini-marts.

“I haven’t seen a bit of data that selling gas and alcohol in the same place does anything,” Bay said, referring to concerns by some Anaheim Planning Commission members that the “drive-in” sales lead to drunk driving.

Fullerton’s Planning Commission decided not to oppose mini-mart sales of alcoholic beverages after no opposition was heard at a public hearing on the matter, senior city planner Barry Eaton said.

Of Fullerton’s 52 service stations, 16 also are mini-marts, according to a staff report. Planning Commission approval is not needed to establish mini-marts in Fullerton unless the gas station is being structurally altered, Eaton said.

In Yorba Linda, council members recently voted to prepare an ordinance that would ban the sale of alcohol and gas from the same location. Yorba Linda has only one gas station/mini-market, according to Assistant City Manager Bruce Channing.

In San Juan Capistrano, which does not have any gas station/mini-markets, city officials are considering proposing an ordinance that would ban any such establishment from the city, Assistant City Manager Glenn Southard said Monday.

In Westminster, the City Council has imposed a moratorium on the building of mini-marts until the city has time to further study the issue.