Joliet deals with another gas station liquor quandary

The Joliet City Council continues to wrestle with decisions on what to do about liquor sales at gas stations.

The council on Tuesday held off on a denial for a liquor license at a BP station when the owner pleaded that he was at a competitive disadvantage with another gas station nearby on Houbolt Road.

“Over the years, there have been new stations,” Abdul Basit, owner of the BP station at 1411 Riverboat Center Drive, told the council. “They have been given the liquor license and the gambling license.”

Several gas stations in Joliet also have licenses for video gambling. But Basit was seeking only a license to sell packaged liquor.

He pointed to a Food N Fuel station that opened earlier this year at Houbolt Road and Route 6 with a license to sell liquor.

“I need to be more competitive to compete with the newer stations that are coming,” Basit said.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy, who also serves as the city’s liquor commission, had recommended that the council deny a liquor license for Basit’s BP station, which is at another Houbolt Road intersection.

But D’Arcy on Tuesday asked the council to table a vote on the matter so he could discuss it with Basit.

The council agreed that despite a report from a deputy liquor commissioner, the residents in the area do not want more liquor licenses issued.

Deputy Liquor Commissioner Kevin Kelly said there are six retailers for packaged liquor within a mile of the BP station.

“The neighborhoods in that area really don’t want another liquor license in that area,” Kelly said.

Council member Susanna Ibarra, whose district includes the BP station, agreed to table a vote despite making her own comment against the license.

“The direction of the council is definitely not to flood the city with a bunch of liquor licenses,” Ibarra said.

Joliet held off on liquor licenses for gas stations longer than many communities.

But when the council issued a liquor license in 2020 for a new Thorntons gas station at Collins and Jackson streets in a special arrangement in which the company paid to relocate a 19th Century building on the site, it opened up a demand for gas station liquor licenses that the city has never quite gotten a grip on.

Council member Larry Hug pointed to a controversial Speed Trek gas station being built at 2665 Plainfield Road and approved by the council in 2023 despite strong opposition from residents who live nearby. The station will have packaged liquor sales and video gambling.

“They were awarded the license when the neighbors didn’t want it,” Hug said.