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Two alders have submitted a proposal to stop even more people from opening liquor stores at the former Chapel Square Mall.
East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes and Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Santana presented the zoning ordinance text amendment at the most recent City Plan Commission meeting, asking to remove a section of the ordinance that essentially allows a square block to be filled with liquor stores.
Normal zoning law does not allow permits for package stores within 1,500 feet of each other. A zoning exception — Section 42.1(g) — excludes just one area of the city from that provision, specifically “the area bounded north by Chapel Street, east by Church Street, south by the Oak Street Connector, and west by Temple Street.”
That area was once the Chapel Square Mall and Macy’s department store, which shut down in 1993 after financial difficulties. The old mall is now a block-long apartment and office building.
Right now, three liquor stores sit on that same square block across from the Green: The Wine Thief, College Wine and Temple Wine.
In December, downtown neighbors sought to stop the newest of those stores — Temple Wine —from opening, after they found out the state had granted owner Manjul Prasad a provisional liquor permit. They did not succeed in stopping the store from opening, but now want to prevent any others from popping up on the square block.
City Plan staff recommended approving the removal of that section of the ordinance. At the time, the defined area contained a shopping mall and two large department stores, the report said. “The inward facing nature of all the buildings (as well as the uses contained therein) and its virtual elimination of pedestrian/business interaction over any extended length of the public sidewalk may have eliminated concerns about the nature and type of atmosphere a proliferation of alcohol related retail uses located in close proximity at street level that may have otherwise existed,” the report said.
But now “because of the centrality of the subject area and because of the relative difficulty of establishing new package stores in almost any other part of the City, it is not unreasonable to believe that these establishments will proliferate in this area,” the report said. Eliminating the exception “will restore a level of stability to this area that current regulation does not provide.”
City Plan commissioners voted to approve the alders’ proposal. The amendment will next head to the Board of Alders Legislation committee, which meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m.
I think it is interesting that all three of these Liquor Stores have WINE in their Name. C'mon -- this is Class!!!!