Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

VA-99-10-005 — Costco Wholesale

Request: Variance in P-D zone to allow alcoholic package sales 2,112 ft. in lieu of 5,000 ft. from another alcoholic package sales business to the north.

Decision: Denied

Hearing: The request is for beer, wine, and liquor package sales (no on-site consumption) for Costco, currently under construction on-site. The site is located in the Sky Lake South Planned Development. There is another package store, Liquor Plus, located to the south in the Waterbridge Downs Shopping Center. The applicant is requesting a variance from the 5,000 separation requirement between itself and Liquor Plus. At the public hearing, the applicant's attorney told the BZA they were not aware of the separation requirement until after they were under construction of the facility, which included a liquor store. He suggested the County should have told them of the requirement when the P-D plans were submitted or when the construction plans were submitted. Staff responded that the applicant was well aware of the requirement as many other Costco liquor stores have gone through the licensing procedure, which is when the separation requirement is verified. The attorney indicated Costco's real estate section cavassed the area and did not visualize an open package store at the Liquor Plus location; his understanding was that Walgreens had had a license at that location, but had closed, which they believed would then allow Costco to obtain a license. Staff reported there was an active license at that location; Walgreens had sold the license to Liquor Plus, and they were in the process of transition. Although the doors may have been closed at one point, that was only due to the normal transition period during the changeover from one business to another; the license was still active at that location and "counts" with respect to meeting the separation requirement. Official Zoning records track the status of all approved licenses and the status of those licenses. If the applicant's real estate section had done its due diligence research of those records prior to site commitment, Costco would have been aware of the situation and could have acted accordingly. Several parties*