Inn, Group Clash Over Cocktails

MUSSEL SHOALS — A group of residents is objecting to a plan by the Cliff House Inn to seek a hard liquor license, saying sales of spirits would increase the number of accidents at an already dangerous intersection on U.S. 101.

The intersection--along a scenic stretch of the highway a few miles north of Ventura--has been the site of seven collisions since 1998, two of which were alcohol- and drug-related, according to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

From 1994 to 1998, more than 120 people have been injured and four killed on the three miles of freeway connecting Mussel Shoals and La Conchita in western Ventura County. Official California Highway Patrol statistics for 1999 are not yet available.

The intersection across from the Cliff House is tricky--drivers leaving the inn’s parking lot to head north must cross freeway traffic, with vehicles going at least 65 mph in both directions.

“People, when they drink hard liquor, tend to get drunk faster and get more drunk,” Mussel Shoals resident Dusty Farber said outside a hearing Wednesday in Ventura at which residents complained to an administrative law judge. “Trying to get through that intersection under normal circumstances is risky at best. Under the influence of alcohol, the risk is even greater.”

Sanford Porter, who co-owns and manages Cliff House Inn, applied for the upgraded liquor license from the state in October, but met protests from several of the inn’s neighbors.

Most of those homeowners have since dropped their complaints, with only two formal protests remaining, Porter said. The Shoals Restaurant, inside the small ocean-side hotel, has been licensed to serve only beer and wine for the past 13 years. Porter said he may not serve distilled spirits right away, but applied for the enhanced liquor permit to give him the option of accenting his menu with cocktails.

The administrative law judge is expected to render a preliminary decision within 45 days; a final ruling will be made by the director of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said interim director Manuel Espinoza. The department’s Southern California office had recommended approval of the upgraded license. Espinoza said it may be difficult to make a direct connection between the sale of hard liquor at the Cliff House and an increased number of crashes at the intersection.

Kimberly Awkerman, who investigated the Cliff House’s application, agreed, saying the crashes at the intersection in the past two years had nothing to do with the restaurant.

The residents’ concerns are “more of a zoning issue and a Caltrans issue,” she said. Awkerman added that the Cliff House has never committed any violations of its liquor license.

Still, residents at Wednesday’s hearing insisted that safety would be compromised if officials allowed the Cliff House to sell hard liquor.

“To encourage additional people to go there is a frightening situation,” homeowner Chris Provenzano said. “You need 100% of your faculties when you are coming in and out of Mussel Shoals.”

But Porter said safety at the intersection is a separate issue. He said he wishes the California Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the highway, would speed up improvements.

A community committee of transportation officials, politicians and residents--including Porter--is pushing for an underpass to make access to the northbound 101 safer. The group met for about a year before submitting its proposal to Caltrans.

The Caltrans staff is expected to present more detailed plans of an underpass--which could cost up to $20 million--to the committee in about 18 months, said Chris Stephens, deputy director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission. After that, it could be five years before such an underpass is built.

In the meantime, Porter said, he wants Caltrans to at least prohibit left turns from Mussel Shoals onto northbound U.S. 101, which he thinks would significantly reduce the risk of accidents at the intersection.

However, Mussel Shoals resident Robert Brunner said safety is not the neighbors’ only concern. He is also worried about the hotel’s overflow of customers squeezing already scant parking areas and about additional litter in the neighborhood.

“There is not enough parking for any increased business,” Brunner said.

Awkerman said the Cliff House’s 55-space parking lot was sufficient for its 100-person capacity. There is overflow parking on land next to the freeway owned by Caltrans, although residents said they also like to park there.

Porter has agreed to a series of conditions if he is awarded the hard liquor permit, including ending alcohol sales at 10 p.m., not serving alcohol without an accompanying food order and agreeing to clean up any trash left around the parking lot.

Nevertheless, the handful of residents opposing the license made impassioned pleas to Judge John P. McCarthy, saying they have seen too many gory crash scenes to stay quiet about the inn’s application.

“Until this is fixed by Caltrans, we feel there should be no additional risk put on the community,” Farber said.