Clovis approves another brewer's license

CLOVIS — For some of Clovis’ citizens, the thought of a third potential brewery on Main Street was too much to accept.

To the Clovis city commission, three feet didn’t seem like much of a reason to deny. Via a 7-1 vote, the commission approved an application for a brewer’s license for Roosevelt Brewing at the former Sutton’s Bakery building and a variance for minimum distance from a church.

The vote means the commission has approved operations for four potential breweries on the 400 and 500 blocks of North Main so far in 2019 — the previous being Foote Brewing Company at 412/414 Main and Bandolero Brewery at 421 Main in February, and Red Door at 412/414 Main in August after Foote withdrew its application. None have begun operations.

From property line to property line, the building Roosevelt Brewing wishes to use for craft beer and food service is 297 feet from True Victory Church on 620 N. Main St. The local governing body has the decision on granting waivers for applicants within 300 feet of a church or school.

Bonetta Hutson, a pastor at Living Word Church of God, said she constantly has people who come to the church seeking help with alcohol addictions and adding more places to get alcohol will add more of those issues.

“We have too many who are drinking and driving,” Hutson said, “and they continue to rack up several convictions before anything is done.”

Justin Cole, a Portales resident who was raised in Clovis, said he was baptized at True Victory and believed he could operate without upsetting the church’s operations. He extended his arm to note that was about the three feet of distance that made the waiver necessary.

Commissioner Gary Elliott, who cast the lone dissenting vote as he has on each brewery request, said each location could have a limit of three beers per person, but a person could have nine beers just by going from location to location.

Cole believed that to be an implausible scenario, because servers are trained to identify overserved individuals and because the culture of a brewery is far different than a bar.

Sistar Yancy said she came to Clovis from California, and she saw problems developing that coincided with every new liquor store that opened.

Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza made an argument that he has made before on the prior approvals — that responsible drinkers shouldn’t have their options limited because irresponsible drinkers exist.

“I don’t think I’ve ever lost a customer to alcoholism,” Garza said. “The alcoholic is going to find a way to have a drink, whether it’s at your place, my place or somebody else’s place.”

In other business at the Thursday meeting:

• The commission declared Nov. 17 as Shad Mayfield Day, in honor of the Clovis teen’s qualification for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

A sendoff event is scheduled for noon Nov. 17 at the Curry County Fairgrounds pavilion, with Mayfield signing autographs and fundraisers scheduled to help the Mayfield family defray travel costs.

• Commissioners approved a $2.868 million grant/loan from the state water trust board for Phase 1D of the wastewater reuse pipeline. The phase would take the pipeline to Bob Spencer Park and add a 1 million gallon storage tank for non-potable municipal water.

When complete, only one planned end user remains — Colonial Park Golf Course, which would be connected through Phase 2. City Manager Justin Howalt said the pipeline can add other end users, as it can supply up to 4 million gallons of effluent water per day and anticipated demand from all users is less than half that.

• Parks and Recreation Director Mark Dayhoff called last weekend’s Trek for Trash a success with 230 volunteers and 567 bags of trash collected — up from 185 and 308 last year.

The top three teams were neck-and-neck, Dayhoff said. Clovis Community College won the competition with 97 bags, followed by the Cannon Air Force Base First Sergeants Command at 96 and Cannon LRS at 95.