Joliet council deals with another gas station gambling/liquor license

The city’s ability to deny a gambling and liquor license to a gas station might get tested again Tuesday.

Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, also the city’s liquor commissioner, has recommended denial of the newly created Class BG license for Kal Petro, which runs a Phillips 66 station at the corner of Chicago and McDonough streets south of downtown.

The license application goes to the City Council for a vote on Tuesday, the first application for the BG license since it was created in early June to address a concern involving two gas stations.

In a divided 2020 vote, the City Council approved a liquor license allowing for gambling machines at the new Thorntons station at Jackson and Collins streets despite O’Dekirk’s recommendation that it be denied. The license was viewed as a one-time exception to the city’s ban on gas station liquor in exchange for Thorntons’ $300,000 contribution to the relocation of the 19th Century Casseday House off of the construction site.

However, Terry Lambert, owner of a Mobil station at Broadway and Theodore Street, was able to win an appeal before the state liquor commission when the the council subsequently turned down a liquor license for his station.

That led to the creation of the Class BG license.

Kal Petro is the next station to seek the newly created license, which the city at one time wanted to limit to Lambert and Thorntons alone.

The city might have more on its side in a legal battle this time, however. The liquor commission wrote in its order of denial for Kal Petro points that the station at 379 S. Chicago St. had 34 calls for police service between July 1, 2020, and June 30. It also wrote that another 120 calls for police service came within 100 feet of the station.

“The issuance of a liquor license at this location, regardless of class, will likely have a negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood, as well as the city as a whole,” the commission said in the order. “The issuance of a liquor license at this location will likely exacerbate the already existing law enforcement problems.”