Des Plaines council to consider liquor licenses for gas stations

The Des Plaines legal and licensing committee Thursday night agreed the city should allow gas stations with convenience stores already selling packaged food to also be able to sell alcohol under a new class of liquor licenses.

City code prohibiting the sale of liquor at gas stations has been in place for roughly 18 years, officials said.

The draft ordinance would allow retail sale of beer and wine at gas stations with an indoor area of 1,300 square feet under the condition that no more than a third of the space is used for the sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol cannot be consumed on-site and the license would limit the hours of sale. The initial fee for the license would be $3,630 with an annual fee of $1,815.

City Attorney Dave Wiltse said presently only one gas station owner in town has requested the city create such a license, and possibly one more station that may qualify for it even though there are about 15 gas stations in town.

Several suburban towns in Cook, Lake and DuPage counties allow liquor sales at gas stations, Wiltse said.

"It's becoming very, very common for the larger stations that have a food component to sell alcohol," Wiltse said.

The idea is to allow gas stations the ability to recapture lost revenues due to the city's two-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase that went into effect Jan. 1, officials said.

Nick Gianaris, owner of the Citgo station on Oakton Street who requested the city create a new liquor license, said his sales are down because of a variety of reasons including the economy and people driving less. "The tax is just part of it," he said. "One thing people are asking for is beer and wine sales," he said. "It would be really beneficial to us. Our store is over 3,000 square feet so we meet the requirement. We have been longtime business owners in the city."

The committee voted 3-1 to recommend the matter for review by the city council on March 15.

Aldermen John Robinson (2nd Ward), Mark Walsten (6th Ward) and Dan Wilson (7th Ward) voted for moving ahead with the ordinance.

Ward 5 Alderman James Brookman voted "no" because he wanted more information about how other communities have dealt with the matter.

"I really have mixed feelings because I was strongly opposed to the gas tax increase because it would hurt gas station owners," Brookman said. "This is a way to help them, but I'm not sure it's a good policy."

Brookman said allowing gas stations to sell liquor may result in proliferation of liquor licenses in town competing with existing liquor stores.

"I think it will definitely influence future renovation plans (for gas stations)," Brookman said.

If more gas stations make modifications to meet the new code, "we couldn't arbitrarily say at that point you can't have a liquor license," he said.

Walsten said he doesn't believe there will be an avalanche of requests for liquor licenses from gas stations, if the city were to adopt the ordinance.

Robinson said he would like to see more businesses take advantage of the ordinance and invest in the community. He added, more people today use gas stations as a one-stop shop where they can pick up basics like milk, bread and alcohol.

"It's the convenience," Robinson said. "It's another form of a food store. It just happens to be selling gas. Quite a burden was placed on the gas stations in this city with the (gas) tax. If it can help them, I think it's probably a good idea."