A liquor license hiccup between a landlord and tenant cleared a hurdle March 10, when the Prescott City Council approved a Series 6 All Spirituous Liquor and Bar License for landlord Cliff Petrovsky for suites A, B and M in the Plaza View Ballroom/Old Capitol Market at 120 W. Gurley.
Days earlier, the license application had fermented into a social media maelstrom urging “vote no” emails to Council members on behalf of Superstition Meadery, the building’s lower level tenant, christened via a “wine cellar” grand opening in October 2014.
Based on conversations with staff at the Arizona Department of Liquor and the Meadery’s legal counsel, owners Jeff Herbert and Jennifer Barber-Herbert had feared that license approval would put their 1,200-square-foot downtown tasting room and brewery out of business, Jeff Herbert explained in an interview.
So began the spirited social media campaign with Barber-Herbert sharing via email and Facebook a plea asking supporters to contact City Council members, using email links she provided.
“If you vote ‘yes,’” Barber-Herbert wrote in the talking points targeted to Council members, “you will be voting to put Prescott’s first winery out of business, force its owners into bankruptcy, and end the jobs of [nine] Prescott employees while stopping a growing source of tax revenue for the city and state.”
The culprit was Arizona State Statute A.R.S. §4-244:40, which prohibits outside alcoholic beverages from being carried onto the premises of another liquor-licensed establishment. The wide-open ambience of The Capitol Market ― at first blush ― does not lend itself to readily distinguishing one first floor vendor’s leased property lines from another.
Barrier Proposed
Late-breaking resolution came via an amended plan, whereby the landlord has proposed to place a barrier on the first level to ensure that deliveries, spirituous operations and patrons carrying packaged sales of alcoholic beverages would not overlap on the two licensed premises.
Like mead trickling into a tasting glass from a nail hole in the fermenting barrel, “the amendment did not come until the day before the Council meeting,” Herbert said, “so we didn’t know if we needed our supporters to come to the meeting.”
The application now goes before the Arizona Department of Liquor, the final decision-maker, charged with the state’s liquor licensing and law enforcement. According to sources, approval by local jurisdictions – such as the City of Prescott – carries significant weight in the state agency’s licensing approvals. No word has been provided about when the agency may decide the matter, but city personnel who have spoken with the agency’s representatives reported a comfort level with the solution.
“A lack of action on our part would have been a ‘go out of business’ deal,” Herbert said, describing indications from the state agency that the license application had a “good chance” of approval. “Anyone faced with that threat to their business would do what they needed to protect it.”
Herbert noted, “A lot of supporters and patrons come in here. We communicate with them through Facebook. We have relationships with our customers in the modern age, relationships that have to do with social media.”
The Facebook post “reached 22,500 people,” mostly through supporters sharing the message, Herbert said. “It snowballs when people get passionate about something.”
Included was a request for signatures to the Meadery’s petition on a popular web survey platform. That petition generated more than 600 responses, while another 100 supporters signed a paper version.
“We were looking at what we could do for free, how we could motivate people to help,” Herbert said of the campaign, which drew commentary from Councilmember Chris Kuknyo.
Kuknyo, who clarified to Council that he had been “interceding” with both parties toward resolution, said he had been caught off-guard, but characterized the campaign as a “rookie mistake” that he did not perceive as a “publicity stunt.”
Herbert summed up the Meadery’s efforts, “It only made sense for us to communicate with our customers. The response was overwhelming. We are the product of all of our friends and supporters that wrote letters and signed our petitions.”
Neither Herbert nor Petrovsky would have acted differently if they had to start over on the license application saga, they individually stated.
Petrovsky said he “perceives [Council’s approval of the amended proposal] being a pretty good outcome for both parties. It was amicably resolved. All is good.”
Prospects for Building
From a landlord’s perspective, Petrovsky said he “would like to see a deli on the elevator side of that first floor. We [through a tenant] would love to be able to serve organic gourmet lunches for sandwiches that could cater to [those] working downtown who don’t have a lot of downtime.”
He relayed his vision of every tenant being a “destination,” and encouraging patrons of each business to shop others through collaborations such as spices in recipes and mead on a beverage menu.
“We could really create some good synergy,” Petrovsky said, even if beer and wine were sold. “It would make sense if some of those wines were from Superstition brewery.”
Petrovsky outlined a scenario where the lunch crowd might purchase a glass of mead at the sandwich shop and then go to the lower level for a packaged bottle sale.
“I have to find the right mix,” the landlord said of his tenant search. “I can’t be in a rush. It has to work for the Spice Traveler, and blend and work for the Meadery.”
He concluded by adding, “I know I never had any intention of shutting them down. Jeff has made some positive statements that he is satisfied that it is resolved. I have a long-term relationship with them. There’s nothing I want more than having a good working relationship. They are good for downtown and good for Prescott.” QCBN
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