E.L. police recommend City Council renew liquor licenses

The East Lansing Police Department recommended the East Lansing City Council renew liquor licenses for the 31 businesses that hold them at its Tuesday meeting.

Although council officially will decide whether to renew the licenses at its next meeting, East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis said he was pleased with the police department’s report.

The report showed that 12 liquor license violations occurred in 2007, which has become the average in recent years, said Tom Wibert, East Lansing’s police chief. Nine businesses violated the law.

Despite the violations, Wibert said he will recommend all liquor licenses be renewed.

“If we catch somebody in a sting, there’s a possibility that we may have to send them to the (Michigan) Liquor Control Commission for a hearing,” Wibert said. “But if we can settle the problems on the local level, that’s our preference.”

Violations occur for various reasons, including selling alcohol to minors, exceeding occupancy and serving to excessively intoxicated patrons, Wibert said.

That was the case with Dublin Square Irish Pub, 327 Abbot Road, which received two liquor license violations last year — one for exceeding occupancy and one for allowing an intoxicated person to consume alcohol after hours.

Noel LaPorte, co-owner of Dublin Square, said the violations occurred partially because the restaurant was new and its staff was learning how to operate.

“It was having a new restaurant and learning how to manage the four different areas,” LaPorte said. “It’s hard to manage capacity in a facility the size of ours.”

After the violations occurred, LaPorte’s staff met with members of the East Lansing Police Department to receive training on managing capacity, LaPorte said.

The council also passed a master deed for Stonehouse Village III, a condominium development being built on the corner of Albert Avenue and Bailey Street.

Tim Dempsey, East Lansing’s community and economic development administrator, said the deed defines what parts of the project are owned by the condominium association and what parts are owned by the city. The city owns the parking garage that was built for the project.

Doug Cron, of Cron Management, the project’s developer, said having the master deed approved was a necessary step to completing the condominiums.

“We’re excited that finally it’s approved,” he said.

Published on Tuesday, March 25, 2008