Looking like a hot issue

June Casagrande

A controversial request by a pizza restaurant to deliver beer and

wine will come before the City Council, which is likely to be less

supportive of the request than were city staff and planning

commissioners.

Hotties Pizza, scheduled to open in the coming months at 325 Old

Newport Blvd., earned a preliminary blessing from the Planning

Commission on Jan. 9 for the restaurant’s request to serve beer and

wine on site and also to deliver beer and wine along with food.

“I think this is a hot issue if you’re the parent of teenagers,”

City Councilman John Heffernan said.

The commission also granted a request to change the hours of

operation on the company’s permit to 2 a.m. The current permit held

by owner D’Alessio Investments allows for a coffee shop that closes

at 3 p.m. and has no alcohol sales. Staff emphasized that beer and

wine delivery should only be permitted with food delivery.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilman Gary Proctor made a

motion to reconsider the Planning Commission’s approval of the permit

request.

“We should be looking at whether we want this alcohol delivery

service in West Newport,” said City Councilman Gary Proctor.

The Hotties Pizza matter will come before the council for its

consideration sometime in the future, though the date has not been

set.

Proctor noted that the issue is especially sensitive at a time

when the city is looking for ways to rein in the annual drunken

mayhem that accompanies Fourth of July celebrations in West Newport.

The city will soon send out questionnaires to about 14,000 households

in the West Newport area and the peninsula asking residents just how

far they’re willing to go to put the brakes on out-of-control

partying.

Possible remedies include closing down some streets on the holiday

to everyone but residents, halting liquor sales in the area on the

Fourth of July and finding ways to shift the character of the area

from one heavily populated by renters to a community of mainly owner

occupants.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].