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Committee tables Flat Iron Wines liquor-license transfer after neighborhood protests
Summary
The committee heard SFPD and applicant testimony and public comment about a proposed off-sale to on-sale license transfer for Flat Iron Wines; supervisors voted 2-1 to table the transfer amid concerns about adding licenses to a high-concentration downtown/Tenderloin area.
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on Thursday voted to table a transfer of a Type 21 off-sale license and the issuance of a Type 42 on-sale beer-and-wine license for Flat Iron Wines, a business proposing to open at 2 New Montgomery St.
Lieutenant Dave Falzone of the San Francisco Police Department's ABC liaison unit briefed the committee on the application and recommended conditions intended to limit neighborhood impact, including restricted hours (9 a.m. to 10 p.m.), noise limits, container and alcohol-content restrictions and a prohibition on powdered alcohol sales. Falzone said ABC recorded 14 protests but that only one protest had been validated under ABC procedures; he also noted seven letters of support for the applicant.
Applicant representatives said Flat Iron operates a boutique wine model in New York focused on artisanal producers and education, and that the proprietors plan to relocate staff to San Francisco and to hire locally. They said they attempted to purchase a license inside District 6 but none was available.
Community speakers urged continuance or denial, citing public-safety concerns and what they said is an undue concentration of alcohol outlets downtown and in the Tenderloin and SoMa. The Alliance for Better District 6 and other neighborhood speakers asked for more outreach and argued the license transfer would add a retail alcohol outlet to an area already dense with such stores.
Chair Eric Marr moved to table the application, saying the committee should avoid increasing the number of off-sale licenses near high-need neighborhoods; Supervisors David Campos and Marr voted to table, Supervisor Julie Christensen dissented. Roll call: Campos ' Aye; Christensen ' No; Marr ' Aye (motion to table carried 2-1). The item will return to committee pending further outreach and review.
