Idaho May Mix Up New Liquor Stores Batt’s Lifting Of Moratorium Boosts Cda Resort’s Chances

Gov. Phil Batt lifted his moratorium on new state liquor stores late Thursday, opening the way for The Coeur d’Alene Resort to resubmit its application.

The resort applied to open a liquor store last spring, spurring a rash of other requests. Batt imposed a moratorium, saying the state needed to review where it was headed on liquor stores.

All hard liquor sold in Idaho goes through the Idaho State Liquor Dispensary. The dispensary operates nearly 50 state-run liquor stores, and also contracts with private businesses to run some smaller stores.

A legislative task force and new dispensary superintendent Dyke Nally revamped the rules for the liquor dispensary while the moratorium was in place.

Batt, in a letter to Nally Thursday, called the new rules “more succinct, consistent with state law, and clearly stated.”

After the Coeur d’Alene Resort’s application became public last spring, Templin’s Resort requested an application, and a Coeur d’Alene pool hall inquired about opening a store.

“They were coming pretty fast,” Nally said Thursday. “It was kind of like calling a timeout, to get our feet on the ground.”

Former dispensary Superintendent Dean Summers, an advocate of privatizing liquor sales, had expanded the dispensary’s private stores under a new program. That program has now been sharply cut back.

Under the new rules, private stores will be limited to “extraordinary circumstances,” as determined by the superintendent.

“When the question comes up or an application comes in, we’re going to be really researching that area, to see if it’s in the best interest of the state to have a liquor store there,” Nally said.

Private stores likely will be limited to those that are so small, remote or unique that the state can’t justify running its own operation or a consignment store there.

Half of the 22 private stores in Idaho last spring have now been converted into consignment stores, where the state owns the liquor inventory and contracts with the store owner to sell it for a small commission. That’s thought to give the state more control over the operations.

Nally said he anticipates some new stores now that the moratorium has been lifted, but the dispensary is still studying the issue. “The state population has increased a lot,” he said. “We have people who think we should have better service in some areas, and some areas that maybe aren’t served now have grown.”

But decisions will be made strictly on the basis of serving Idaho’s changing population, Nally said. “We’re not promoting more liquor just to promote it.”

, DataTimes