Burlington City Council denies Hot Spot Food and Liquor's alcohol license renewal application

A convenience store on Osborn Street may have to shorten its name after its application to renew its liquor license was denied.

The Burlington City Council on Monday voted to reject Hot Spot Food and Liquor's application for the license, which would allow it to continue selling liquor and wine, for alleged repeated violations of age restrictions on alcohol products.

“We have had 13 (alleged) violations this year,” Police Chief Marc Denney of the convenience store, located 1618 Osborn St.

The city council approving licenses for beer, liquor, wine and cigarettes is a common occurrence at meetings and is part of the consent agenda.

While the specific licenses are included in the packet, they generally are not read at council meetings. The reason the Hot Spot license was discussed at Monday's meeting is because Denney asked the council to remove the item from the consent agenda and instead place it on the regular agenda.

Any establishment wishing to sell alcohol or tobacco must receive a license from the council. This license is only good for Monday through Saturday; a separate license must be obtained to sell alcohol on Sunday. The city’s ordinance also prohibits selling alcohol between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. There is no license that allows establishments to sell during these hours.

Barring an appeal being granted, the store will lose the ability to sell any kind of alcohol. The store’s tobacco license was not up for renewal and, as such, will not be affected.

Denney said that most stores comply with the requirement to not sell age-restricted products to those who are underage. Even when establishments do violate the rules, it is often only one violation over the course of a year, not multiple. But in this case, owing to the number of infractions, Denney felt revoking the store's license was more than justified.

Maj. Jeff Klein said the Burlington Police Department does compliance checks twice a year with the help of the state to ensure establishments that sell age-restricted products are following the rules. The department also receives complaints from members of the public if the person believes a store has broken the law.

Just because the council did not renew the license does not mean Hot Spot must cease its alcohol sales right away.

Instead, Klein said the store will be notified of the city’s decision not to renew the license. From there, an appeal can be made asking Denney to reinstate the license. Only after an appeal is denied, or if the store fails to file an appeal, will it have to stop selling alcohol.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Hot Spot Food and Liquor may lose liquor license