Does a Census Tract With 5,000 People Need a 5th Liquor-Selling Business?

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning is scheduled to conduct a public hearing today, Tuesday, regarding an application for a permit to sell beer and wine at a gas station on 5404-5410 East York Blvd.

The hearing will be held downtown at 9 a.m. in room 1020 of Los Angeles City Hall by Associate Zoning Administrator Michael O'Brien. 

On June 27, the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council voted not to support the gas station's permit application because of "several comments of concern (opposition) from stakeholders who live near the subject address," HPPNC member Harvey Slater said, adding: "There is already a high concentration of licenses in the subject census tract."

The gas station lies in Census Tract 1833 of the 2010 U.S. Census, which has a population of about 5,000 people and a size of 0.3 square miles. According to the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, there are already four businesses in the 1833 tract that have off-sale licenses for beer and wine, although none of them is a gas station. (Of the four locations, three are on York Boulevard—Super A Foods, Cals Liquor and Junior Market, Marios Liquor Store—and the fourth business is on Avenue 56.)

The HHPNC is encouraging members of the public who feel strongly about wine and beer licenses at gas stations in the area—regardless of which side of the issue they're on—to attend the hearing and make public comments about the permit application.

Public comments may also be sent by e-mail to Associate Zoning Administrator Michael O'Brien at michael.obrien@lacity.org. E-mails should include reference case number ZA 2013-1016 (CUB).