City appeals approval of Total Wine liquor license
Distance between church, proposed store in question
A megastore for wine and liquor that wants to set up shop in a south-side commercial area has received state approval to transfer a liquor license to that location, but city attorneys are appealing the Alcohol and Gaming Division decision.
Total Wine & More wants to sell its products in a former office-supply store on Zafarano Drive. At issue is whether the proposed Total Wine is too close to Praise Tabernacle Freedom Church.
The City Council in September unanimously decided against waiving a state law that prohibits a liquor store within 300 feet of a church. Mary Kay Root, director of the Alcohol and Gaming Division, nonetheless approved the license transfer a few weeks later.
The city found the distance between the property line of Freedom Church and the closest point of the proposed Total Wine premises was 277 feet.
Councilors cited that measurement and the outspoken opposition of the Freedom Church pastor, Harold Trujillo, in declining the waiver and not taking up the liquor license transfer.
“We fear a liquor store 300 [feet] away will interfere and become a threat to our church,” Trujillo wrote in a letter to councilors. “We already have a difficult situation with the Santa Fe homeless drinking, loitering, defecating on church property. … This would impose on a problem that we deal with on a daily basis.”
But a representative of Total Wine measured the distance between the proposed store and the church differently and disputed whether the company needed to apply for the waiver at all. Total Wine cited an email from the state alcohol division’s deputy director that stated Root had already determined the proposed store was not within 300 feet of the church.
Documentation submitted to the city indicated the Total Wine representative measured from the proposed Total Wine premises to the church’s curb rather than the church property line. The curb is 361 feet from the proposed Total Wine premises.
After the council denied the waiver and did not decide on the transfer, litigation was expected to settle the matter, said Assistant City Attorney Alfred Walker.
Alex Sanchez, a deputy superintendent with the state Regulation and Licensing Department, said the Alcohol and Gaming Division had not requested the waiver hearing. Root approved the license transfer because the city did not act on the transfer within its window to do so, Sanchez said.
The license in question is held by Five Points Holdings LLC, which had leased it to a Cerrillos Road convenience store.
Maryland-based Total Wine & More calls itself the country’s largest independent wine retailer. A typical Total Wine location, according to its website, will carry more than 8,000 wines, 3,000 spirits and 2,500 beers. A message seeking comment from the company late Friday was not returned.
The city’s appeal was filed in state District Court in Santa Fe and assigned to Judge Francis Mathew.