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Politics & Government

In Brief: Liquor License Approved for Gas Station

Approval of license for Mobil station is a first for packaged liquor at services centers.

After a short conversation Tuesday night, the Plymouth Township Board of trustees approved a liquor license that would allow beer, wine and packaged liquor – such as vodka or whiskey – to be sold at a local gas station.

The Mobil station, which is located at Five Mile and Northville roads and is owned by a firm called , received the approval from the board because, essentially, there was no way for the board to oppose the measure after the state law was changed to allow more businesses to sell liquor.

The approval was unanimous; Clerk Joe Bridgeman and Trustee Steve Mann were absent from the meeting.

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Supervisor Richard Reaume said the gas station was the first of its kind in the community.

“They changed the law, and we just don’t have a lot of recourse,” he said after the meeting. “It would be different if we could prove there were problems there, like fights, but those problems don’t exist.”

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Reaume also said the board had been through a similar fight when it denied the Shell station on Ann Arbor Road a license for beer, wine and drinks such as wine coolers, and the Michigan Liquor Control Commission overrode that decision, essentially forcing approval of the license.

“They told us they were entitled to the license,” Reaume said.

Only one resident stood up to express concern about hard liquor bring sold at gas stations. Laura Gumina, a resident, said she didn’t think the license was a good idea.

“It seems like a bad idea to me,” she said. 

City Attorney Tim Cronin said he would not speculate on whether he, or the board, thought it was a good idea to do so.

“Whether or not it’s good policy, we might agree, or we might not,” he said.

Reaume said that there are more than 10 places in the community where alcoholic beverages can be purchased, but, that he’s not concerned about proliferation of license requests as a result of more lenient state policies.

He also said the station met requirement that specify that gas pumps be 50 feet from the store. He also added that individuals are prohibited from consuming alcohol on-premises.

The application as approved after the Plymouth Township Police Department conducted a background investigation and determined there was no reason not to fight the application, said Police Chief Tom Tiderington.

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