PG changes use permit to allow hard alcohol at Point Pinos Grill
A Central Coast city looking to bring in more tax dollars is turning to hard alcohol for answers. Pacific Grove is moving ahead with plans to allow a full liquor license at a local restaurant, in hopes of drawing in more money. Its an issue filled with controversy for local residents.
Pacific Grove is known as the last “dry city” in California, repealing prohibition in 1969. Those against Wednesday’s decision to allow for hard alcohol to be served at Point Pinos Grill, said they’re not against alcohol, but are concerned about the element they believe it will bring to the neighborhood.
“They already have beer and wine, we’re not Prohibitionists, we don’t care if somebody takes a drink. But we don’t want to up the level of danger,” said resident Lorna Torkos.
Point Pinos Grill operates inside a building owned by the city of Pacific Grove. Earlier this year, the restaurant operator said he applied for a full liquor license and hit a snag when the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control realized the use permit didn’t allow for the switch from just beer and wine to include hard alcohol.
Now the majority of city leaders said they’re willing to make the change, because it’s a restaurant just like any other in the city.
“The more revenue we have the more sales tax we collect and one again the more money that goes to (the city) and more people we employ, locally, who live locally and then spend their paycheck a locally,” said Point Pinos Grill operator Dory Ford.
Some residents who live near Point Pinos said they already deal with some noise coming from the restaurant and worry a license to serve hard alcohol will be a recipe for disaster.
“And once they get that they’ll get the events. And this is right next to a neighborhood, a residential neighborhood, right next to the El Carmelo Cemetery,” said resident Lee Willoughby,
City leaders said they’re also concerned about the impact on residents. Proof of that commitment came from several council members, citing the business isn’t allowed to provide catering services and current hours of operation will remain the same. Point Pinos Grill said its committed to following those rules and continuing quality service.
“We’ve been doing business a certain way, our servers are trained, they don’t over serve, we follow the rules of the ABC and we’ve never had any incident in this or any of our other operations,”
There are 6 other restaurants with full liquor licenses in the city. The Pacific Grove Police Department said in almost two years, none of those restaurants have had calls for service related to problems with alcohol.
