Panel won't support adding bar within liquor store

Tosa Wine & Spirits owners Sukhlal Gill and Amandip Singh would like to add a lounge-style bar area to the liquor store, but the idea failed to gain Plan Commission support Monday.

That doesn't mean the idea is dead, however. The matter now moves to the Community Development Committee for review, possibly Sept. 6.

Plan Commission officials recommended, on a 3-2 vote, that the city deny the conditional-use request by Tosa Wine & Spirits, 11747 W. North Ave.

Mayor Jill Didier, Alderman Don Birschel and Commissioner John Albert supported the recommendation for denial, while commissioners Gloria Stearns and Chris Jackson voted against it.

In order for Tosa Wine & Spirits to sell alcohol for consumption on site, its Class A liquor license needs to be replaced with a Class B or tavern license. The major concern was that granting such a license likely would limit the city's control over the establishment's hours.

Although Tosa Wine & Spirits proposes closing the lounge area and liquor store by 9 p.m. each day, a state tavern license would allow the owners to legally keep it open until 2 a.m., and as late as 2:30 a.m. on Saturday nights.

Birschel cited that concern as the major grounds for not supporting the request, along with the use's incompatibility with the surrounding residential neighborhood.