Alcohol sales are coming to Bethel — legally — for the first time in 40 years.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board granted Bethel two liquor licenses today—one for AC Quickstop and another for Bethel Spirits, a Bethel Native Corporation subsidiary.
The AC license passed in a 4-1 vote.
The Board debated whether an Alaska statute restricting liquor stores on property owned or financed by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation applied to AC’s application since the store is located within a public housing subdivision.
The Board determined the Quickstop did not violate the statute, because it is not located on public housing property.
The Bethel Spirits license carried unanimously with the stipulation that BNC moves the main entrance of the store to comply with Bethel municipal code.
The code requires 300 feet between liquor stores and schools. The store site is located across the street from a youth detention facility that qualifies as a school under state statute and under local school district listing. According to a measurement taken by an ABC Board investigator, the current distance between the buildings totals about 146 feet.
The Bethel City Council has been developing a new alcohol code that would reduce the required proximity between liquor stores and schools and bring the Bethel Spirits site into compliance.
Anna Rose MacArthur is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.
