Winters Market announces intention to withdraw liquor license application

By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief

A last-minute decision on behalf of a local business owner changed the course of an agenda item that councilmembers were expected to take action on at the Feb. 7 Winters City Council meeting. Council was slated to hold a public hearing on Winters Market’s application for a Type-20 ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) License.

If approved, the license would allow for off-sale beer and wine sales (off-site consumption only) at Winters Market.

City Manager Kathleen Salguero Trepa informed councilmembers that ABC considered the area where Winters Mar- ket is located to have an “undue concentration” of alcohol licenses. Which ABC defines as a “ratio of off-sale retail licenses to the population in the census tract or census division in which the applicant premises are located that exceeds the ratio of off-sale retail license to the population in the county in which the applicant premises are located.”

In this situation, in order for a new alcoholic license to be issued, the local governmental body -— Winters City Council -— must approve a Determination of Public Convenience or Necessity (PCN)

Trepa said City Staff was not in support of approval of the proposed PCN determination due to the market’s proximity to Winters High School making it a popular destination for students before, during and after school hours.

“While one option is to require that alcohol be locked and not available for sale during school hours, including one hour before and after the school day, the school schedule adjusts for a number of different reasons, adding a layer of complexity for tracking and enforcement,” Trepa said.

A letter submitted by Winters Joint Unified School District Superintendent Rody Boonchouy was accompanied by signatures from WHS staff and students on a recently signed Friday Night Live petition that had been circulated around the high school site, not in favor of allowing the license to be approved. The letter from Friday Night Live stated that “Granting the Winters Market request would send a message opposite of the one taught in our health classes on campus, which teachers our youth about the harmful effects of alcohol.”

Meals on Wheels

Yolo County announced it had secured a lease on kitchen space in Winters and expects it will be able to double the number of meals they provide for older adults in Yolo.

The additional 5,300 square feet of commercial kitchen space in Winters is located at 111 Main St. where the Buckhorn Restaurant’s catering business has been stationed for more than 25 years.

“Our kitchen is the heart of our operation, so sharing this transformational news on Valentine’s Day seems so appropriate,” said Joy Cohan, MOW Yolo Executive Director.

“Over the past year, the MOW Yolo team has been inspired to dramatically deepen our impact upon senior nutrition deficits in the county, which has made the capacity limits of our current kitchen in Woodland very frustrating.

American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, approved by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, has made it possible to begin to change this narra- tive.”

A MOW press release stated the pandemic caused the catering operation to downsize, eliminating the need for such a large food production space. However, the Buckhorn was still responsible to pay the lease through part of 2023, until a community member advised Cohan of the potential for a “win-win” solution.

“The lease for the additional commercial kitchen space in Winters will mean serving more seniors in Winters, but also countywide, as we have both temperature-controlled equipment and vehicles that allow for safe transport of packaged meals from the commercial kitchens in both Winters and Woodland to locations throughout the county,” Cohan said. Cohan told the Express that MOW is looking forward to re-exploring opportunities for this socialization program for seniors to return to Winters and other areas of the county.

“It is possible that congregate dining may return to the Winters Community Center later this year, especially once we are fully functional in the new Main St. kitchen. Overall, traditional congregate dining has been returning from pandemic pause very slowly, not just in Yolo County, but in neighboring counties, as well,” Cohan said.

To connect with services or to offer support, visit mowyolo. org, email welcome@ mowyolo.org, or call 530-662-7035.