MAHONING COUNTY Liquor options? Ballot's loaded

Voters will rule on the issues in November.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
and IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County has no shortage of patrons who enjoy wine with dinner or carryout alcohol after a day at work -- that, at least, is the conclusion one might draw from the number of liquor options on the November ballot.
Voters will be asked to consider 34 liquor options for 26 businesses in Austintown, Beaver, Boardman and Canfield townships, and Campbell and Youngstown cities. Rich Nagel, Mahoning County Board of Elections, said the county has more single-site liquor options on the ballot than he has seen at any one time in the last five years.
The ability to sell alcohol on a Sunday seems to be a big contributing factor to the number of alcohol options appearing on the ballot.
Nagel said Ohio law has changed to allow state liquor stores to sell alcohol Sundays if approved by voters in a given precinct. He said at least three of the requests are from state stores asking voters to approve their Sunday sales.
Nagel also said nonstate stores are banking on Sunday sales. He said business owners have said carryout wine sales on Sunday are lucrative and those ballot request account for a good number of the liquor ballot options in November.
Familiar situation
Voters have seen some of the liquor options on the November ballot in previous elections.
According to Nagel, Boardman Convenient Foodmart on Market Street went before voters for permits last November. The request, he said, passed but a permit was not issued because of a technical problem in the wording on the actual license application.
So, the store is again asking voters in Boardman's 21st precinct for permission to sell beer, wine and mixed beverages daily and Sundays. Businesses must request a Sunday permit separately from a daily permit.
Sam's Club on South Avenue went before voters in 2002 to obtain an alcohol permit for its new location, also on South Avenue. A permit request by Sam's Club for beer, wine, mixed drinks and Sunday sales was narrowly defeated with slightly more than 50 percent of voters rejecting it.
The new Sam's Club building straddles two township precincts -- the 40th precinct, which is dry, and the 51st precinct, which is wet. The store built a section of the store in the 51st precinct and made alcoholic beverages available from that section of the property.
Sam's Club, however, is going before voters in the 40th precinct to obtain a permit for the sale of beer and the Sunday sale of beer.
Boardman Twp. has most
Most of the ballot liquor options -- about 17 for 13 businesses -- are in Boardman Township. The state allows a limited number of liquor permits for each classification in relation to the population of a municipality and Boardman is reaching the maximum number of permits in some classifications.
According to the liquor control Web site, Boardman has 101 alcohol permits issued.
Township officials say those permits are distributed among about 60 businesses.
Township Trustee Tom Costello said residents have voiced concerns to him about the number of businesses selling alcohol in the township. He said it has not become a problem yet, but is headed in that direction.
Township trustees routinely object to ballot initiatives for liquor permits in the township.
"I have some strong concerns with the number of applications for additional permits for alcohol in the township," said Costello. "My own personal opinion is that we have enough facilities in Boardman for people to either stop and have a drink or go in and take something out. How many places have to be able to sale."
Canfield Township
The second-highest number of liquor ballot initiatives is in Canfield Township. The township has only a few issued liquor permits. There are eight requests on the November ballot for four businesses.
Township Clerk Carmen Heasley said there are only two businesses with liquor permits in the township: Tippecanoe Country Club, and Chudda Bing. Residents, he said, should be expecting to see more liquor permits along U.S. 224, as it is growing.
Heasley said the only say trustees have in the matter comes once a year, when permits are renewed and trustees can file an objection.
& quot;The general public has total control over this; the elected officials have zero, & quot; he said.
Trustee Bill Reese said trustees expected to see liquor issues along U.S. 224 because of the growth, and they have no problem with that.
They don't want permit requests for businesses outside of the 224 corridor.
Trustees are concerned that the development of neighborhood bars could lead to an increase in crime. Trustees, however, do not expect requests for businesses outside of 224.
Trustees do think there will be fewer requests for the 224 area over the next few years, as available land for businesses in the corridor is decreasing.
& quot;It was totally anticipated in that 224 corridor. It just looks like a natural progression to continue in that business corridor," said Reese.
jgoodwin@vindy.comhill@vindy.com