DRAPER — An ardent alcohol critic wants to douse any plans the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has to locate a state liquor store in his city and instead wants the issue put to voters this November.
Scott Howell, who led a failed effort three years ago with a similar voter initiative, asked in a letter to DABC commissioners to postpone a Thursday decision on siting a liquor store in Draper.
"We think there is enough legal as well as community concern we would hope they would be prudent enough to delay action," Howell said Monday.
Dennis Kellen, the department's operations manager, said commissioners can entertain the request, but they are not obligated to adhere to Howell's wishes.
"They will take under advisement anything that is offered, but I don't know what their decision will be," he said. "The commission does what it wants to do."
But Howell said Draper voters deserve a chance to decide a ban on liquor stores in the city.
"The community is very much interested in weighing in on this," he said.
A similar initiative restricting the sale of alcohol in stores and restaurants went before residents in 1999, when 62 percent of voters rejected the ban.
"People voted overwhelmingly against his petition, and I think that is unlikely to change," City Manager Jim Smith said.
"There have been no new issues presented. I think the liquor issue in each community in Utah is a community issue, and I think the community has already spoken."
But Howell said he doesn't believe the 1999 initiative was a resounding failure, pointing out that one-third of voters approved of the ban and the City Council acted shortly after that to ban bars and taverns in the city.
"We did feel it was a sound success because we made a difference in the community," he said.
Smith said city leaders met with the DABC officials in an advisory meeting earlier this year about the liquor store. The probable area of the store's location — along the I-15 frontage road of Minuteman Drive — is zoned such that a liquor store is a permitted use, he said.
"The state is technically in compliance. In terms of the process, there is not much more we can do," Smith said.
But Howell said the department, according to state law, is responsible for considering "any other factor or circumstance it considers necessary" before establishing a liquor store.
"This initiative and other factors cannot be ignored," he said.
Howell's proposal would give residents a chance to approve or disapprove of amending Draper's municipal code to read that liquor stores will not be permitted in any commercial zones. He said Monday he believes he has "five times" the support he experienced during the last initiative.
"There's no question it will turn out differently."
Howell, whose letter was also addressed to Gov. Mike Leavitt and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, wants to amend state law and require a community's approval when the DABC opens a liquor store.
"This deficiency in the statute denies citizens their procedural due-process rights," he said. "What is interesting is they are above the law. They require local consent when they issue their licenses, but they don't require it on themselves."
Draper Chamber of Commerce President William Rappleye said his group has taken no formal position on the issue of a liquor store in Draper, but he has watched the debate with interest.
"It would make sense economically for Draper to have the store," he said. "The negative impacts are small and possibly the economic impacts are medium."
Buoyed by a $1.5 million appropriation from the Legislature, the department has wanted to locate a liquor store in the south end of the valley to serve a growing population.
Draper has long been a powder keg of controversy because of its anti-alcohol initiatives, including a 1998 effort led by city officials to prevent the South Mountain Golf Course from selling beer. It ultimately failed.
E-MAIL: amyjoi@desnews.com