Cape Mart asks council for Sunday liquor sales

Shah Faisal is in for a fight Monday night at city hall. Another one.

Six months after Faisal staved off strong neighborhood opposition to get a liquor license for his relocated Cape Mart convenience store, he is taking them on again. This time, Faisal is asking the Cape Girardeau City Council to let him sell alcohol on Sundays, something city leaders did not allow in March in an apparent conciliatory gesture to residents.

"It's put me at a competitive disadvantage," Faisal said. "I lose at least half my business on Sunday. People come in, see that I'm not selling alcohol and they leave without buying anything."

It looks to be an uphill battle. Mayor Harry Rediger said he is leaning against supporting the request. Last week, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend that the application for a special-use permit be denied. Several residents have spoken out against it and said they plan to do so again at Monday night's meeting.

Residents said last week that fears they had about the opening of the convenience store at 238 N. Fountain St. have been confirmed in the last six months. Worries about crime were realized, they said, with two armed robberies. More trash lines the street, the nights are noisier and people loiter in the parking lot, they said.

"He's ruined the neighborhood," said Larry Stroder, who lives across the street from the store. "We've got six days of it right now, and we don't need another one."

An answer may not come tonight, however. The council's options are to file P&Z's recommendation or to ask for a public hearing, which would place the item up for a council vote at an upcoming meeting, city attorney Eric Cunningham said.

Even if the council tries to file the recommendation and settle the matter, Faisal could ask for a public hearing, a request the council would be obligated to grant, Cunningham said.

If it comes to that, Faisal said, he will ask for a public hearing. But he said Friday he is baffled by the neighborhood's reaction to his store. He was the victim in the armed robberies, he said, and had a gun put to his head. He hires someone to clean up the streets four to five days a week, even to clean up the yards of other people's homes. He's put up no-loitering signs, run loiterers off his lot and has added cameras to beef up security.

"I want to be a part of this neighborhood," he said. "The neighbors are the people that I want to be my customers. I try to abide by all the rules."

Some of his customers said that they feel like Faisal's being treated unfairly.

Jay Warner lives five blocks from Cape Mart. He doesn't drive and he wants to patronize the store every day of the week. He pointed out that he doesn't know of any other convenience stores in town that can't sell booze on Sundays.

"Sunday's football day," Warner said. "Everybody watches football. I like to come here and get a case of beer to watch the games. It's convenient. It's closer. Every convenience store in town has a liquor license except him. It's not right."

Faisal's request is for a special-use permit to allow Sunday sales. The property is in a "residential urban mixed-density" zoning district, which is a new designation established last year. The district allows all types of residential uses and limited commercial with the approval of a special-use permit. Technically, Faisal is selling alcohol six days a week as a legal nonconforming use because the previous occupant, Ganix, was selling liquor Monday through Saturday.

City staff members have not made a formal recommendation on the request but said if a permit is approved, they recommend it be granted with certain conditions, including the store closing by 10 p.m. Sunday and at midnight Friday and Saturday. The report, prepared by development services director Kelly Green, also suggests that no drive-up window be permitted on the property.

Faisal's lawyer, Gordon Glaus, said those restrictions are acceptable.

"He wants his opportunity to be heard by the council," Glaus said. "That's pretty much all we asking for is a fair hearing."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

238 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, MO