A couple who applied for and were denied a liquor license by the Festus City Council in January were rejected again during a Feb. 22 public hearing when the majority of council members voted against the couple’s appeal.
Rajpreet Manchanda and her husband, Jaspal Gandhi, of St. Charles are considering legal action against Festus over the denial of a liquor license needed for them to open a liquor store proposed for 310-314 W. Main St., in a retail complex that housed several businesses in the past.
“It was totally ridiculous,” Gandhi said. “They had no solid reason they could provide. We are looking at legal action. We will talk to an attorney.”
The couple purchased the building with plans to open a liquor store there, city staff members said.
Festus council members voted 4-2 to deny the appeal. Those who voted against the appeal were Dave Boyer of Ward 1, Bobby Venz of Ward 2, and Mike Cook and Jim Tinnin of Ward 4. Those who voted in favor of the appeal were Kyle Wilkey of Ward 2 and Kevin Dennis of Ward 3.
However, on Feb. 23, Dennis said he was confused by the motion and thought he was voting to deny the appeal of the liquor license.
Ward 2 Councilman Brian Wehner abstained from the vote, and Ward 1 Councilman Gary Underwood was absent for the public hearing.
On Jan. 11, council members voted 6-1 to deny the liquor license. Those who voted against the license were Boyer, Venz, Cook, Tinnin, Dennis and Wehner, with only Wilkey voting in favor of the license. Underwood was absent from the meeting.
Both times, council members said they relied on the advice of Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis, who serves as the city’s director of liquor control.
Lewis said he opposed issuing the liquor license for several reasons. For one, he said 310-314 W. Main St. is near the intersection of Main and Mill streets, one of the busiest intersections in the city and the large volume of traffic a liquor store would generate would cause problems there.
He also said he checked into gas stations and convenience stores the applicants own on New Halls Ferry Road in Ferguson and on Chambers Road in north St. Louis County and found that both locations generated a lot of calls for police assistance.
Manchanda and Gandhi said they felt Festus officials were unfairly comparing their existing businesses to the one they would run in Festus, noting that Festus has a much lower crime rate than Ferguson and north St. Louis County.
“My point was, why are you comparing the city of Festus to a place where riots were?” Gandhi said. “It’s apples and oranges.”
Dennis said he opposes the proposed liquor store primarily because of the location.
“They seem like very nice people,” he said. “It’s just, that location; it’s hard to do anything there with only 10 parking spaces. There’s also the traffic concerns.”
Wilkey said he believes the council should have given the applicants a chance to prove themselves at the location.
“I didn’t think comparing Festus to Ferguson and the other place they have their businesses was fair,” Wilkey said. “I felt the city should give them a license and if we didn’t like how they ran their business, don’t renew the liquor license.”
City Administrator Greg Camp said he believes the applicants misunderstood Lewis’ characterizations about their existing businesses as a reflection on them personally.
“It wasn’t their character,” Camp said. “It was the character or nature of their business and how it would fit that location. (The retail complex where the liquor store is proposed) was a T-shirt shop and an insurance agency. They did not generate the same kind of traffic this would.”
Camp also noted that Manchanda and Gandhi failed to respond to the city’s contention that a liquor store at the location would cause a traffic headache so close to the busy Main and Mill streets intersection.
He said the appeal was the last course of action the applicants could take with the city to get a liquor license.
“The City Council decision is final,” Camp said. “They would have to seek legal relief.”