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An alcohol license application that was tabled in March for “further investigation” was approved Thursday by the Kosciusko County Alcohol Tobacco Commission after all their questions were answered and there were no remonstrators against it.
Robert T. Carter applied for a new beer retailer - restaurant license at 206 W. Monroe St., Mentone, in March. During that hearing, there were questions by the commission on the zoning of the property and if the building had access to sewer and water.
They also pointed out Carter had a history of keeping an alcohol license in escrow for a long period of time, and he remonstrated against The Pug Pub in January when they applied for an alcohol license - the only one left in the town - at 102 E. Main St. The commission denied The Pug Pub’s application, citing the building’s closeness to a church, and the state upheld the denial, with Carter then applying for that available license.
Excise Officer April Tackett tabled Carter’s application in March to Thursday’s meeting for “further investigation.”
On Thursday, Tackett said no final inspection of Carter’s building at 206 W. Monroe St. has been done because it’s not ready.
Carter told the commission the last time he was before them, there were some questions on the zoning. So he checked that out and found the property is zoned commercial.
“And I also went to the town. The second page on that is a permit for remodeling for the premises there,” he said, handing the commission some paperwork. “So they know the area. They were fine with me changing it over from being a repair shop or whatever to a bar. I put on there for a restaurant/bar, it’s what it’s going to be used for.”
He said he had the town give him a quote on sewer and water and the town can put sewer there “fairly easily.” The sewer runs “right down the alley between the old body shop and my building, so there’s an alleyway there so that’s where the main sewer runs through,” Carter explained.
Updating the commission on the building, he stated he’s started cleaning it up and working in there.
Commission member Dan Woods asked Tackett, “This is for a beer retailer. Now does this mean there’s still a license in town for wine and liquor? His original application, was it just for beer retailer or was it for liquor and everything?”
Tackett responded the way the quota system works is “wine-only licenses are not on quota, so they can have as many of those as they want. So we’ll throw out the wine part. This is a beer-only license, and just like other places, if you have a beer-only license, if you want to convert that into the beer, wine and liquor - that’s how you get the beer, wine and liquor without the availability of carry-out.”
She assumed the reason why Carter’s application was a beer-only is because if Carter knows that for two years he’s not going to use it, he’s going to pay $500 a year for a beer license as opposed to $1,000 a year for that beer, wine and liquor without carry-out license.
If, after those two years he’s ready to be open for business, Tackett said Carter can still convert the beer license into a threeway as long as the town does not go back on the enabling ordinance.
“So, once a town makes an enabling ordinance by statute, they have to keep it for at least two years. So after that two years is up, if they say, ‘No, we’re going to rescind that,’ then this stays forever a beer-only license because they’re not going to have that,” Tackett explained.
Wood asked, “But by taking this, that does remove the possibility of somebody else getting another license?”
Tackett said yes.
“Seeing that there’s no remonstrators here, especially after continuing it and some exposure (in the media), and still nobody shows up to remonstrate - my biggest concern is the history of keeping a permit in escrow and all we can do now, if this would be approved, is to leave it up to the (state) commission to, when they have those escrow hearings, take care of this,” she said.
Woods made a motion to approve the new license application, and Mike Hall seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0, with President Alan Alderfer absent.
The county commission is a recommending board to the state commission who has final say on licenses.
License renewals without violations approved by the commission included:
• HMR Acquisition Company Inc., doing business as Hacienda Mexican Restaurant, 3805 Lake City Highway, Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor - restaurant (210-1).
• Leesburg Petro Corp., doing business as Leesburg Stop N Go, 100 N. Main St., Leesburg, beer and wine dealer - grocery store.
• Las Nueva Trojes LLC, doing business as Las Nueva Trojes, 115 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor - restaurant (210).
• Mi Tierra Mexican Cantina LLC, doing business as Mi Tierra Mexican Grill & Cantina, 2604 Sheldon St., Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210-1).
There were no remonstrators against the renewals.
