BENTONVILLE — More than 70 aspiring liquor store owners will vie for 55 available Benton County permits when hearings begin with the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in July.
A lottery drawing is planned for June that will determine what order applicants will appear before the division’s board.
Michael Langley, director of administration for the division, said Friday 73 people had applied for retail liquor permits in Benton County. The deadline for applications was last Tuesday.
By The Numbers
Permits Processed
Liquor store permits processed as of April 26:
• 34 total
• 14 in Rogers
• 4 in Siloam Springs
• 4 in Bentonville
• 3 each in Lowell and Garfield
• 2 in Pea Ridge
• 1 each in Prairie Creek, Gentry, Decatur and Centerton
Source: Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division
Applications started to trickle in starting in early March, but a majority rushed their applications in just before the deadline. Thirty-four applications were returned by April 26. A full list with the remaining applicants will be available next week. The division sent out more than 300 applications to interested parties, but less than a third of those were returned. The filing fee is $2,000, and only half of that is returned if the application is denied.
Langley said the biggest problem for business owners may be a state law that prohibits liquor stores within 1,000 feet of churches or schools. The Rogers Police Department sent the alcohol division a map that pinpoints every school and church in the city and shows a 1,000-foot radius around the sites. The results didn’t leave much space for new businesses, Langley said.
“There’s really limited available space,” he said.
City zoning regulations also dictate where liquor stores can operate in Rogers. Darrell Smith, Rogers senior planner, said most commercial areas in the city are zoned for liquor stores. Downtown, highway and open display commercial areas all allow liquor sales. Areas that are zoned commercial inside neighborhoods will not allow liquor stores.
“What we’re looking at is if it’s allowed in the zoning or not,” Smith said. “We opened up a lot of commercial zoning to it.”
Bentonville liquor store owners are limited by a city ordinance that requires any business selling alcohol to obtain a conditional use permit if the store is located within 500 feet of a city park or trail. Troy Galloway, director of community development for Bentonville, said a few applications he had seen listed addresses not compatible with state and city laws and regulations. Those problems in the applications were noted and sent to back to the state ABC.
“I think we’ve done our due diligence,” Galloway said. “It’s been a work in progress.”
The lack of approved space across the county has led to several applications for liquor stores in the same shopping centers or within the same block. Fareeda Abdullah and Zahid Sharif have both applied for permits in a shopping center at 17047 Marshall St. in Garfield. Judith Castor applied for a permit at 215 W. New Hope Road in Rogers, while Kerry Castor applied for one at 315 W. New Hope Road.
Liquor store locations should serve the “public convenience and advantage,” according to the state alcohol division’s rule book. That definition is up to interpretation by the alcohol division’s board members. Little Rock has several areas in which liquor stores are within a few thousand feet of one another, but none that are next door or in the same shopping center, Langley said. One concern is whether two stores that close to one another could survive.
“We’ve never had to deal with this before,” Langley said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Applicants who are approved first will have the advantage over competitors vying for a spot nearby. That’s where the order of hearings and the lottery drawing comes into play.
A date for the June drawing will be set at the board’s next meeting on May 15. Some people may plan to sell or trade an early hearing slot, but that won’t work, Langley said. Successful applicants can’t sell their permits either.
“A lot of people think they will win the permit drawing, then turn around and sell their permit,” he said. “They’re going to have to open their store. The permit doesn’t issue until they’re ready to open.”
Division staff is out this week inspecting store locations in preparation for hearings. Langley said the hearings will take about three days to complete.