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Mesa council recommends denial of Mojo’s liquor‑license application over proximity to childcare
Summary
The Mesa City Council voted to recommend denial of a beer-and-wine license for Mojo’s, citing concerns about the applicant’s proximity to a childcare facility and statutory proximity factors that the State Liquor Board will adjudicate.
Mesa’s City Council voted on Dec. 8 to recommend denial of a beer-and-wine license for a business known as Mojo’s after members raised concerns about its proximity to a childcare center.
The council’s action instructs staff to forward a recommendation of denial to the Arizona State Liquor Board, which will hold any subsequent hearing and make the final licensing decision. Council discussion focused on statutory factors the city must consider, including proximity to schools and childcare programs.
At the meeting, a resident, Thomas Derholt, told the council the proposed license location was “184 feet away from a childcare with the playground” and asked the council to deny the application. City counsel explained the local role: the council provides a recommendation to the state board using up to 12 statutory factors and does not itself issue or refuse state liquor licenses. Counsel also noted that state law defines certain school distances — for kindergarten and higher the code references 300 feet — and that staff had not flagged a statutory conflict but would verify the status of any childcare licensing.
Council members debated whether to continue the item to gather more distance and licensing information or to advance a recommendation to ensure it met the State Liquor Board’s deadline. One councilmember moved to recommend denial on the basis of proximity and related statutory factors; the motion passed on a council vote and the record shows the applicant was instructed to appear before the state board for a hearing.
The denial recommendation is a procedural step that triggers a state-level review; the State Liquor Board will determine whether the statutory factors or factual distances warrant license denial, approval or conditional licensing. The council’s minutes note the staff will provide written material to the state board explaining the basis for the recommendation.
Next steps: the applicant may request a hearing before the State Liquor Board, which will review the factual distances, statutory definitions and any other factors raised by the city and neighbors.
