Joliet council denies gambling licenses for 5 gas stations

The Joliet City Council on Tuesday turned down five gas stations seeking licenses for video gambling and alcohol in an effort that one council member said won’t hold up.

The council is trying to keep a lid on the number of gas stations that get the new BG license created after the Illinois Liquor Control Commission forced the city’s hand when one gas station appealed a denial last year.

Council member Joe Clement, who cast the lone vote Tuesday in favor of the BG licenses, predicted that the city will lose the fight again.

“The horse is out of the barn on all of these,” Clement said. “We’re going to be right back here again. The Illinois liquor commission is going to order us to give out these BGs.”

The five stations seeking the licenses denied on Tuesday were the PS Fuels station at 928 W. Jefferson St., the Citgo station at 609 Ruby St., the BP station at the corner of Jefferson Street and Hammes Avenue, the BP station at the corner of Route 59 and Caton Farm Road, and the Mobil station at 555 E. Cass St.

If the stations do appeal to the state liquor commission, they may point to the council’s approval of a BG license last month for the BP station at 1415 Plainfield Road, a station that has been around for decades under various brands and is locally known as Mickey’s because of its ownership under the Mikuska family.

Lawyers for two of of the stations seeking licenses Tuesday pointed to the Mickey’s approval in making their case.

Attorney James Murphy asked that PS Fuels on Jefferson Street be given “the same consideration” as the BP on Plainfield Road.

Murphy also represented Terry Lambert’s Mobil Station, which won the case before the state liquor commission based on the council’s approval of an alcohol and gambling license for the the Thornton’s station that opened last year at Jackson and Collins streets. The Thornton’s license was intended as a one-time deal in exchange for the company’s $300,000 contribution to the relocation of the 19th Century Casseday house, which was on the gas station site and otherwise would have been demolished.

Council member Cesar Guerrero said his vote against the five licenses before the council on Tuesday was based on “additional circumstances.”

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, also the city’s liquor commissioner, had recommended denial of all five licenses.

The denials included references to police calls to some stations and their proximity to residential areas.

Attorney Jordan Kielian for the Citgo station on Ruby Street said that station “is very much like the BP station on Plainfield Road, which is business in the front and residential in the back.”