Alcohol Moratorium – Fullerton, CA

Two young restauranteurs were dealt a blow by the council when the council declined to approve another exception to the alcoholic beverage license moratorium for restaurants whose applications were deemed complete before the moratorium of June 5. Their application for a “Type 47″ (full on-site liquor) beverage license was then necessarily denied.

Nick Lombardo and H. L. Blend, LLC, have been working on establishing an upscale restaurant, “Cherch,” at the southwest corner of Harbor and Commonwealth for some time before the city in June declared a moratorium on more alcoholic beverage licenses downtown. However, they were led to believe September 4 that their application would be looked upon favorably; the city had already modified the moratorium so that Type 41 (beer and wine) licenses were OK.

Meantime, a seriously intoxicated downtown patron killed himself in a crash in his truck the Saturday before the council meeting. Four councilmembers felt they could not then allow more hard liquor dispensaries downtown. Councilmember Bankhead thought it wasn’t fair to the young businessmen, that there were other fatalities in Orange County last weekend. “This one license will not make a difference.” The council encouraged them to reapply with just a Type 41 license.

The Fullerton Police Department does not support any Type 47 establishment, said Captain Greg Mayes. “We have continuing disorder. We have not been able to get a handle on it yet..” He said there were serious pedestrian safety concerns on Commonwealth in the 100 blocks. “From 10pm to 2am. We are not servicing people from Fullerton. They are coming here to party, consuming alcohol in parking lots.”

Karen Haluza, a resident on Jacaranda Avenue, said she and her neighbors live with the impact of the downtown drinking, the vomit, blood and excess parking in their neighborhood. “Is full service liquor a component of fine dining?” she asked. She said the city was headed the wrong direction in watering down the moratorium by exempting Type 41 on July 17. “Go back to the original moratorium,” she urged. “Promote quality dining and entertainment.”

Source: Fullerton Observer