Council won't request liquor-license hearing

The school board has asked for a hearing, even though the city will not.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- The city will not protest a restaurant's application for a liquor license.
City council voted Wednesday not to request a hearing with the Ohio Department of Liquor Control concerning the application for AngeNetta's on Cardinal Drive. It had until Feb. 3 to decide.
Council's vote was 4-0. Councilwoman Marleen Belfiore was absent.
The Canfield school board, however, has asked the state for a hearing on the application. AngeNetta's is close enough to the high school that the board was automatically notified of a right to a hearing. The board made its decision at its meeting Jan. 11.
A liquor option for AngeNetta's passed in the November general election with 68 percent of the vote in the city's Precinct 5. The option was site-specific, meaning it only applies to the restaurant. The restaurant was the first city business to win the right to apply for a liquor license.
In making its decision, council consulted its attorney, Mark Fortunato, and city manager Charles Tieche.
Looking elsewhere
Tieche said that he had asked the city's police chief to talk to police chiefs in communities that have liquor licenses, and the chief talked to those in Beaver Township and Girard. He said both those chiefs indicated there were no problems with liquor licenses issued to restaurants in their communities.
"With respect to Girard, it's my understanding that one place serving liquor is across the street from a local grade school, and there were no problems," Tieche said.
Fortunato said that only one of several reasons allowed for requesting a hearing would apply in the restaurant's case, and the city would have to provide evidence that the license would substantially interfere with "public decency, sobriety, peace and good order."
AngeNetta's owners, Tony and Phyllis Olin, have said they do not intend to offer carryout service at their restaurant or put in a bar.
Fortunato said the license AngeNetta's applied for would allow carryout, but that there are no licenses specifically for on-site consumption only. "It's just the way the permits are," he added.
Tony Olin told council that he and Phyllis decided to pursue getting a license because they believe it has hurt their business not to have one.
"No matter how good my food is, it puts me on a different playing field," he added.
He said the city's leaders should be behind city businesses, adding he thinks that liquor coming to the city is inevitable, and it's already in Canfield Township.