South valley convenience store gets OK to sell liquor

By Paul Takahashi

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 | 3 p.m.

Clark County Board of Commissioners granted a south valley Kwik-E-Mart a special use permit on Wednesday that would allow them to sell packaged liquor 24 hours a day, despite concerns by some neighbors.

The convenience store is located in a shopping center on the corner of Blue Diamond and Cimarron roads. The Kwik-E-Mart, which is within an H-2 Highway Frontage zone, applied for a special use permit to sell packaged alcohol because the H-2 zone does not allow for package liquor sales.

Some neighbors protested the application on grounds that permitting packaged alcohol sales in the H-2 zone would set precedent for other businesses to follow suit.

“This is will be seen as a de facto zone change to a C-2 commercial zone (which allows packaged liquor sales),” said Gene Leed, a Mountain’s Edge resident. “This would allow taverns and more intense uses in this area.”

Attorney Bob Gronauer, who represents Kwik-E-Mart, said that while the convenience store lot may be zoned H-2, “it’s still in a commercial shopping center” where similar 24-hour uses have been approved by the County Commission in the past.

Commissioner Susan Brager brokered a compromise between the neighbors and the Kwik-E-Mart, motioning for a county review of the 24-hour liquor license should issues arise. The board recommended that the county business license department limit the hours to between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. should there be any problems.