A state board hearing on the Haines Borough’s petition for more restaurant and eating place alcohol licenses has been delayed until February.
Borough staff say there were unclear deadlines on when to get the borough’s full application in for a November quarterly meeting of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office staff offered multiple justifications for why the borough’s petition was delayed.
At issue is the borough’s request for a type of restaurant and eating place licenses – more commonly known as beer and wine licenses. The number of licenses granted to a community is limited by its population size; in Haines’ case there are two.
Under a sweeping rewrite of the state’s alcohol laws that went into effect on Jan. 1, boroughs can now request more licenses above the cap.
In late June, the board heard and denied the borough’s first petition for more licenses. Board chair Dana Walukiewicz said he was concerned that Haines’ application used flawed tourism numbers and that the borough needed to hold additional public hearings and perhaps reconsider the number of new licenses it was requesting.
At the time, it was the board’s first rejection of a borough’s petition. But the board has since refused to consider a similar petition for more licenses from Kodiak, saying the city does not have the authority to make such a request.
The Haines Borough amended its request and adopted a new one on Aug. 27, seeking six additional restaurant and eating place licenses, instead of 10. It also held public hearings in committee and at the assembly level, and a community forum was held at the Haines library.
Acting borough clerk Kiersten Long submitted the borough’s revised petition on Oct. 11, according to borough emails shared with the Chilkat Valley News. After that, borough staff added supporting documentation – like information about tourism numbers – as it was completed. The intent was to see it in front of the ABC board during its Nov. 19 board meeting.
The ABC board did intend to hear Haines’ amended petition at that meeting but learned that the borough had a local public hearing scheduled on Nov. 7, said acting Alaska Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office director Lizzie Kubitz.
“Because of this, the decision was made not to include this item on the November ABC Board agenda,” Kubitz wrote in an email.
Borough staff said they thought they had until Nov. 8 to get everything in on time for the petition as that was the deadline given to them by a board staff member.
According to borough emails provided for review – an AMCO board program coordinator named Jane Sawyer emailed to inform the borough of the delay, saying the borough’s public hearings were not finished.
Tourism director Rebecca Hylton responded and said she felt confident the borough had done its due diligence regarding public participation. Interim borough manager Elke Doom also asked for confirmation that the borough’s petition would be taken up in November but Sawyer responded saying that the borough was still in its public hearing phase. She also said there is no requirement that the board hold a hearing on the petition at the first regular meeting after the application is received.
No one from the Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office directly answered repeated questions about the board’s specific process or policy outlining how agenda items are chosen for the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board’s quarterly meetings.
Kubitz wrote that AMCO staff work to get as many items as possible in front of the board for review but “occasionally the decision is made to consider an item at a future date.” She said staff are committed to working with the Haines Borough and answering any questions staff “may have about the process.”
Alpenglow pizza owner Nolan Woodard’s ask for assembly support on his own quest for a restaurant or eating place license – more commonly known as beer and wine licenses – launched this process in May. He said this process of negotiating with the state has been frustrating and exhausting.
“There has not been a single step of this process that has been smooth and uniform. There have been hurdles and complications and annoyingly long discussions and just crap that has gone on with every single part of this situation,” he said.
Because of changes in state law, Woodard’s only options for getting such a license are buying an existing one – or getting the borough to successfully petition the state’s board for any licenses that exceed the community’s current cap of two.
In the past, he would have been able to gather signatures and petition for just one additional license for himself. But the way the process works now, if the borough were to request just one license above its cap it would not be able to request more for at least a year according to state statute.
Woodard said he does not want to take that opportunity away from other potential restaurant owners in the Chilkat Valley.
“I cannot in good conscience do that,” Woodard said. “I know very intimately how complex and frustrating and daunting this whole situation is.”
But some current license holders have pushed back on the idea of the borough getting licenses above its cap, fearing dilution of the value of their own licenses.
Because the existing licenses are capped, owners can sell those licenses for a premium.
But even if the borough’s latest petition is passed in February, it could be some time before Woodard or anyone else is able to get a license. There, it’s likely to hit a six- to nine-month delay because state licensing examiners are backed up. That would make getting a beer-and-wine license a fall or winter of 2025 project for Woodard.
He said his biggest frustration is the way that a state-level regulation is deeply affecting the way that people in a local community are interacting with each other.
He sees the borough’s request for more licenses as an opportunity to regulate itself at the local level.
“We’re the ones who know what this community needs,” Woodard said. “You’d still have to apply to the borough and the borough can choose to give it to you or deny you on many, many, many merits.”