Aliyya Swaby Photo
Weeks after he told Roshan Patel he couldn’t open Gemstone Liquors in the Annex, the state’s liquor control director called him back: The state had changed its mind.
Patel’s application for a liquor license, formerly denied, now has a “pending” status.
This development is the latest in Patel’s long battle to open a liquor store at 222 Farren Ave. — slowed down first by fierce neighborhood opposition to the business and then by government officials’ errors in calculating permit limits.
Patel (pictured) filed a liquor permit application with the state July 18, 2014. Almost a year later, he has nothing to show but a partly-renovated store. He said he spent at least $25,000 converting the place from a restaurant to a liquor store. The average liquor permit application passes through local and state processes in a few months.
“I didn’t expect it to be this kind of process,” Patel said. “I thought they would be on top of it. I guess they failed at the job.”
Annex neighbors filed “remonstrances,” or objections, with the state throughout the winter, arguing the placement of Patel’s store would increase crime in the neighborhood. They had been waiting for months to get a date for their hearing with the state liquor commission, to argue against Gemstone Liquors.
In late May, the state told Patel he had to withdraw his application because the city had reached a state-calculated limit for the number of liquor stores allowed in its boundaries. Neighbors celebrated what they thought was a victory.
According to state statute, Department of Consumer Protection can issue one package store permit for every 2,500 residents of a town as determined every 10 years by the federal census. That means 51 permits for 129,799 people, based on the 2010 census.
Markeshia Ricks File Photo
837 Whalley Ave., now rented to Board of Ed candidate Edward Joyner.
Dayalal Mehta, the landlord of Westville Wines at 837 Whalley Ave., had applied for and received that 51st permit less than a day before Patel.
And that was it for liquor stores in New Haven, at least for the foreseeable future, according to the liquor control director John Suchy at the time. Until he suddenly and with no stated explanation decided there was room for another. (Click here for a previous story on this case’s confusing trail.)
A more recent state roster of statewide liquor stores downloaded July 1 shows 50 liquor stores in New Haven. Mehta’s only store listed on the roster is Cork and Barrel at 1648 Whitney Ave. in Hamden The liquor permit at that store was activated April 30, a month before New Haven Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot signed off on two local locations for Mehta’s proposed liquor store Grapes and Grains.
It is not clear whether Mehta will continue to seek to open a store in New Haven or whether his application status is still pending. Mehta was not available when the Independent called him last week.
Meanwhile, it turned out the state shouldn’t, under its rules, have ruled out Patel’s Annex application.
“I feel like they messed up internally,” Patel said about the state Department of Consumer Protection’s liquor control division. Patel said he tried to get more details about the process from the Suchy by phone twice in the past few weeks, but was shut down and not given more information.
This reporter called Suchy in late June to ask why he had changed Patel’s status. Suchy said the state will not give out any more information about the issue at this time.
Annex neighbors have not been notified about the change either, according to Thomas Burwell, co-chair of Ward 14, who had filed a remonstrance against Patel’s permit. In late May, he and other neighbors waiting for a hearing received a letter from the Department of Consumer Protection saying Patel’s application had been withdrawn.
They received no notice that the application has been reactivated. Burwell said he thought the process has been “straightforward” until now. He called Suchy July 1 and said the director told him the case was being reviewed by legal counsel currently. Suchy told him that the remonstrances were still pending and that neighbors will be notified once legal counsel had finished its review, Burwell said.
Local zoning deputy director Talbot said that he had not been notified about the change in Patel’s application status either. He said he has not approved any liquor licenses within 1,500 feet of 222 Farren Ave., meaning Patel’s application can proceed by local statutes.
Patel, meanwhile, is still waiting to hear whether he should invest in coolers and shelving — the major final touches before the store is complete. Though Patel and neighbors have expressed the desire to meet and discuss the use of the space, neither has initiated that step.
If he could go back in time, would he choose to go through this process again? Yes, Patel said. “But I would start with the community members first to see if I could get their approval. It would’ve made the whole process easier.”
For previous coverage:
•City Hits Liquor Limit; Patil Wins; Patel Loses
•Annex Neighbors Win One Liquor Fight
•Neighbors Battle 2nd Farren Avenue Liquor Permit
•Annex Neighbors Not Giving Up On Liquor Store
•Neighbors Weigh Picketing New Liquor Store