The Carbondale Local Liquor Control Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a special-use temporary event liquor license for Hangar 9 to sell alcohol at the 2025 Carbondale Homecoming and Halloween event on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, on the 400 block of South Illinois Avenue between College and Elm.

The license authorizes Hangar 9 to transfer a portion of its retail-inventory to the off-site location for the event and requires the applicant to provide dram-shop liability insurance for the area where alcohol will be served. Commissioners heard questions from downtown business owners about the location and possible competitive impacts before voting.

Commissioners said the license may be granted contingent on receipt of any outstanding items required by the liquor code. The motion to approve was made by Councilmember/Commissioner Kilman and seconded by Commissioner Roberts; the full roll call produced all affirmative votes from Commissioners Stanfield, Colombo, Killman, Lowes, Maxwell, Roberts and Chairperson Harvey.

The vote followed concerns from a downtown bar owner who asked where mobile bars would be located and whether they would “be a direct competition with me in front of where my bar is.” The owner, identified in the record as Traverso, said they only learned of the proposal that day and asked for a clearer layout of mobile-bar placements.

City staff and the applicant’s representative, identified in the record as Mr. Mitchell, told commissioners the primary mobile bar would be adjacent to Hangar 9’s property, with another unit in a bank parking lot where vendors will be set up, and that one unit would be on the applicant’s property to the east. Mr. Mitchell said the applicant had not yet circulated a final layout map but that staff would follow up. "No intentions of having it in front of any other establishments," Mitchell said, and added staff would provide the exact layout to concerned business owners the next day.

Commissioners also reviewed the license standards, including the 10 statutory or code-based criteria the commission considers when denying an application. Commissioners noted that the commission could add conditions if changes to the applicant’s plans were required to avoid detriment to the general welfare.

With conditions and insurance requirements noted, the commission approved the special-use license and adjourned the liquor-control portion of the meeting to begin the city council session.

Meeting minutes show the commission recorded the motion and roll call as part of the official record.