Members of the Savannah/Newlands community are challenging a proposed liquor store being set up in their neighbourhood, traditionally known as a dry area.
At Thursday’s meeting of the Liquor Licensing Board of Grand Cayman at Custom’s Headquarters, representatives of the community and Church of God Full Gospel Hall in Savannah turned out to object to the application by Jacques Scott Wines and Spirits for a variation in licence.
If granted, this would involve the change of location of a package liquor licence at the Red Rabbit Liquor Store in Red Bay Plaza to the new Countryside Shopping Village in Savannah.
The Board’s decision on this matter has been deferred pending further deliberations.
A liquor store in the district would only serve to fuel underage drinking, drink driving and subsequent fatalities, said objectors.
However, Peter T. Dutton, the applicant, said there is demand for a responsible liquor store in the area, and he stated his intentions to be a good neighbour.
Chairman Mitchell Welds, Deputy Chairperson Lynn Bodden-Smatt, Board members Craig Nixon, Ruth Williams and Bernice Richards, Secretary Marva Scott-Dunbar, Liquor Inspector Donald Green and Chief Inspector George Watson presided at the meeting.
The reason for the variation request is because Red Bay Plaza is to be demolished, he said.
The Countryside Village would improve the liquor store’s functioning, in terms of better parking, access for deliveries and traffic, and improved security, he said.
Other businesses in the shopping village are not opposed to it, the board heard.
It would be less than 3,000 square feet, upscale, and selling mainly fine wines, the Board was told. Tableware and glassware would also be on sale there.
It should be considered a convenience to people in the area to have it there as a service to the public, Mr. Dutton said.
He added that they would be no less an inconvenience than any other tenant might be.
Section 9 (1) of the Liquor Licensing Law (2000 revision) states that the Board must be satisfied that the premises is situated at a place where it will be of service to the public; and that it will not cause inconvenience to the occupiers of neighbouring property.
Noting that he was aware of the sensitivities of the local community, Mr. Dutton said the store would have shorter opening hours than the company’s other stores, and it would not sell small bottles of liquor or smaller than six packs of beer in order to deter customers who might cause an inconvenience to neighbours.
With the exception of Stingray Brewery, between Grand Harbour and Bodden Town there is no package liquor store for an area with somewhere in the region of 3,500 residential dwellings, he said. It is an inconvenience to customers to have to drive into Bodden Town or George Town to buy liquor, he said.
The Jacques Scott company has a letter of intent to occupy the premises, and a lease would follow a successful outcome from this meeting, Mr. Dutton said.
Board member Craig Nixon asked that Mr. Dutton secure a copy of the minutes of the planning meeting at which the planning application was heard for Countryside, and any conditions that had been laid down for its development.
Mr. Nixon said that he was pretty sure that during the presentation to the Central Planning Authority the developer did not have it in mind to have a liquor store there.
Attorney for Jacques Scott, Mac Imrie said his understanding was that there had been no restrictions imposed on the building, but he would get a transcript of the minutes.
Both sides had collected petitions with many signatures, which they handed into the board.
Mr. Dutton said that most of the signatures from their petition were collected from people living in the area.
However, while perusing the petition, Mr. Nixon commented that this did not seem to him to be the case, adding that he lives in the area.
Noting that the shopping complex is in the district of Bodden Town, he said that signatures from that district should be pulled out and used. The signatures of people from George Town should not be applicable, he said.
Mr. Imrie said that all the conditions for the building have been met and the surrounding retailers support the liquor store going in there. The issue of concern expressed by church and community is being addressed by taking measures to minimise unwanted customers by not selling small units of alcohol, he said.
Pastor Dale Forbes, representing the Church of God in Savannah and some members of the community, said he was opposing the application on moral and social grounds.
‘The Savannah area has been without licensed facilities for over 10 years,’ he said.
When alcohol was in the district there had been drinking and driving and a number of resulting fatal deaths, he said. ‘Given the recent spate of accidents on the roads, we ask that Savannah continue to be a dry area,’ he said.
When plans were first submitted to Planning they had objected because, he said, it was felt that a liquor licence would eventually be applied for.
He said the Planning Authority had said that was a matter to be dealt with by the Liquor Licensing Board if an application was made.
The concern is that there are three churches and a school nearby, most of which are within 500 feet of the mall, he said.
There was concern that alcohol would be consumed in the parking lot.
About 95 per cent of the signatures on their petition were from the Savannah area, he said.
Mr. Tommy Bodden, also representing the Church of God in Savannah, said that there are too many liquor licences on the island.
Heather Bodden, who had signed the petition, and is chairperson of the Savannah Pirates Week Heritage Day Committee, said that people leave other districts to come live in the Savannah area purely because no alcohol is served at its district functions.
‘We’ve very concerned and emotional about the issue,’ she said in relation to the application before the board.
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