A plan to allow liquor stores

County may reject major changes to distance regulations

to be built closer together in Orange County is in peril.

Following vocal opposition from liquor-store owners, the Orange County Commission appeared to back down Tuesday night on a plan to allow liquor stores to be built closer together.

But unanswered questions about “reciprocity” — what the distance rules should be next to cities and towns with their own rules — led the commission to postpone a vote on distance requirements so staff can work out those changes.

Currently, liquor stores in unincorporated Orange County have to be 5,000 feet from each other. The commission was set to vote on a proposed ordinance that would have reduced the distance requirement to 3,500 feet.

More than a dozen store owners told the commission the new rules would lead to corporations crowding out familyowned businesses. And with licenses remaining scarce, liquor stores could end up clustered in only a few areas.

“It’s bad for business,” store owner Joseph Lollo said. “There’s not a public outcry for it. No one’s even asking for it.”

Bryan Knightly and Steven Park said reducing distance requirements would lower the value of the licenses they own, each of which is worth about $300,000. In neighboring counties, the value is in the $100,000 to $150,000 range.

Christopher Knightly, one of many wearing a white shirt that stated, “Protect small business,” told commissioners it would result in about a third of smallbusiness owners going out of business as larger corporations moved in near them.

“Before you vote, look out in the gallery,” he said. “Look at constituents wearing the same shirt I am. Which 30 percent deserve to lose value of their business and their life’s work?”

But Chuck Whittall, representing Unicorp National Developments, said competition would benefit customers.

“Bubbalou’s [Bodacious BBQ] survived when Smokey Bones opened,” he said. “The consumer decides who