Case Study: California Liquor License Permit

Challenge

Fresh and Easy came to Permit Place with a hot project in Los Angeles.  The entitlements needed to be submitted on very short timeline and ensure that there were no mistakes in the filing process.

Solution

Understanding Fresh and Easy’s tight timeframe to get this project started, Permit Place developed a three (3) point strategy to get the entitlements as quickly as possible. After completing our due diligence and records research on the property, we were able to successfully negotiate out of  three (3) separate reviews and fees associated with the project.

1. We successfully demonstrated the continuance of an existing use and argued for and negotiated out of $5,163 fee, as well as a full, formal Conditional Use Beverage (CUB) case fee application and into the “Deemed-to-be-Approved” (Off Site Alcohol) entitlement, a much less stringent process saving three (3) months of processing time.
2. We successfully negotiated out of $2,858 add’l charge for lot sizes above 5AC by showing that this fee was exclusive to those doing new Conditional Use Application process and that our application was not new.
3. We argued successfully that the project was categorically exempt and so the Environmental Review Form was not needed saving three (3) months or approval time and $50.00 in fees.

Results

Originally, a project that required three (3) reviews and potentially 6 months of review time and over $8,000 in fees, was negotiated down to one (1) review and 2 months of processing time.  In addition, our knowledge of the City of Los Angeles Entitlement process, our relationships with the Jurisdiction’s plan reviewers and Planners, as well as an intimate knowledge of the Fresh and Easy business model allowed us to speed the review process and save our clients time and money.