New Yorba Linda Target store will open with city's 110th liquor license; brief history of Yorba Linda licenses

 

When Yorba Linda's Target retail store opens in the Valley View Shopping Center this spring, the facility's state-granted alcohol sales permit will bring the city's total liquor licenses to 110.

The city's Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the Target license on a 5-0 vote Oct. 26, which will bring the total active retail liquor license count to an even 100.

In addition, the city has 10 active non-retail licenses: three for beer and wine wholesaler; two for distilled spirits wholesaler; two for beer and wine importer; and one each for distilled spirits importer, small beer manufacturer and winegrower.

These 110 licenses issued by the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control are a far cry from the lone license granted in the immediate post-Prohibition period, a license that was purchased and held by an individual to prevent local liquor sales.

Pioneer resident George Kellogg held the license for a period of time, according to an interview he gave in 1972 to Cal State Fullerton's Center for Oral and Public History. But Kellogg gave up the license when he was told that it couldn't be held to preclude alcohol sales.

The Yorba Linda community had a popular and long-standing distaste for alcoholic beverage sales that began with the early tracts of land sold by the Janss Investment Company in 1909.

Each of the deeds prohibited owners from selling liquor on their properties, a provision that, if violated, required the land to revert to Janss Investments, according to several Cal State oral histories conducted with early residents.

Among the state's lengthy and complex regulations for granting liquor licenses are provisions that limit retail sales based on population. For example, the state limits off-sale permits to one per 2,500 population and lists the number of licenses available in each census tract.

Populations in census tracts range from 2,500 to 8,000 and tracts include about one-square-mile of land in urban areas, but they don't align with city boundaries. Yorba Linda has about 20 full and partial tracts within the city's 20-square-mile area.

California prohibits “undue concentrations” of licenses in census tracts, but that regulation is waived if a city states “public convenience or necessity would be served by the license.”

In a letter to the city, a Target attorney noted that the new store “is located in a census tract that has an undue concentration of off-sale licenses,” so Target “is requesting a determination from the city that public convenience or necessity will be served by the issuance of a license.”

The Planning Commission's approval of the conditional use permit states that a license “will not be detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare.” A condition attached to the permit requires Target to “enforce a strict no loitering policy...to prevent the on-site consumption of any alcoholic beverage purchased from premises.”