After contentious debate, Downtown Peoria restaurant denied liquor license for new space

A liquor license saga that has played out for months in Peoria has finally reached a conclusion.

Highly Flavored restaurant will not be allowed to serve liquor at its new location in the Twin Towers Mall following a contentious 6-4 vote by the Peoria City Council on Tuesday night.

The vote came after nearly two months of deliberation over whether or not the business should be allowed to serve liquor from its new Downtown Peoria location.

Throughout the months-long debate surrounding Highly Flavored's liquor license application, opposition to the restaurant never seemed to anchor itself on any particular stance for too long, and on Tuesday night members of the city council — for the first time publicly — questioned if the opposition to the restaurant was based on race.

Some argued in front of the council that the matter had nothing to do with race, but when the council took its vote the four Black members of the Peoria City Council voted in favor of Highly Flavored receiving a liquor license while the rest of the council voted against it for myriad reasons.

Mayor Rita Ali, councilmember Andre Allen, councilmember Denise Jackson and councilmember Bernice Gordon-Young voted in favor of a Highly Flavored liquor license.

Councilmembers Denis Cyr, Zach Oyler, Tim Riggenbach, Chuck Grayeb, John Kelly and Kiran Velpula voted to deny the license, citing unpaid taxes by the restaurant's owner, a lack of faith the business would succeed, and opposition from residents and business owners at the Twin Towers Mall.

Councilmember Mike Vespa abstained from the vote because he owns property at the Twin Towers.

More: Reports show few police calls were ever linked to Peoria restaurant seeking liquor license

'At some point you have to call a thing a thing'

Gordon-Young, an at-large councilmember and one of the council's four Black members, questioned Tuesday night if Peoria was "redlining" its businesses by excluding a Black-owned operation like Highly Flavored from downtown.

Gordon-Young noted in her argument that the reasons for opposition to Highly Flavored changed as new facts came to light.

"At first we said, 'you had too many police calls.' Well, we dug through that and recognized there aren't any police calls — there was three, and of those three, there was nothing that was problematic," Gordon-Young said. "Then we said 'OK, it's taxes,' so we come up with a plan for that. Now we're saying, 'nobody wants to play with you.' At some point you have to call a thing a thing."

Gordon-Young, Andre Allen and Ali all also noted that other businesses operate out of the Twin Towers Mall with a liquor license. Kickback on Fulton is in the building and has a license, and the Creve Couer Club operated out of the spot Highly Flavored is moving into with a liquor license for two decades.

In his opposition to the site approval for Highly Flavored, Kelly said he did not feel the business should be rewarded when it has unpaid city taxes. Highly Flavored owes Peoria roughly $1,900 in unpaid fees and set up a payment plan to resolve the debt.

Allen retorted at this argument that there are six businesses in Peoria that have unpaid city fees and taxes that also have a standing liquor license.

"I am not looking to call anybody to the principal's office here, but we have to determine when do we want to be accountable and when do we choose to be accountable?" Allen said. "When I look at what happened in Downtown Peoria a couple of weeks ago — again I am not trying to call anybody to the principal's office — but we choose to determine when we want to wave the wand of accountability, and that's why I want to see Highly Flavored get approved for their site approval."

City councilmember Chuck Grayeb, whose 2nd District is home to the Twin Towers Mall, said his opposition to the site was based on feedback he got from residents and business owners at the complex.

"When you do not have buy-in from affected property owners in any neighborhood — you as councilmembers would be advised to answer one simple question, answer one super simple question ... 'who comes first?' The correct answer is the neighbors every single time, ahead of yet one more liquor license applicant," Grayeb said.

More: 'Forced out': Peoria restaurant says it was told to vacate Landmark Recreation Center spot

Gordon-Young still questioned exactly where the opposition to Highly Flavored stemmed from.

"The Creve Couer Club had been in operation for a long time with the exact thing that they are asking for, a liquor license," Gordon-Young said. "So what are we really questioning? What are we really questioning ... so I ask my colleagues to ask yourselves, what are you really questioning?"

Ali, too, made a point that the Creve Couer Club had a liquor license in that exact spot for many years and asked the council to "be fair" when making its decision about the liquor license. She said while it may be a Black-owned business it was not a business for just Black people.

"It would be a darn shame if there is a denial for this business and some other business comes a little bit later and gets site approval for a liquor license when we can approve site approval for this business," Ali said. "It was said before the liquor commission recommended approval, staff recommended approval, a plan of operation is pending. Those concerns about police calls at Landmark were resolved. So all that's left is somebody doesn't want them to be there, that's all that's left."

Councilmember Denis Cyr said his opposition to the site application was because he did not want to see the businesses' owner Jeremy Sargent lose any more money in this venture and he did not think it was a good idea to open the business downtown where others have been closing recently.

Riggenbach and Oyler did not offer reasoning for their opposition Tuesday night.

Highly Flavored's long road to council denial

When Highly Flavored first proposed moving downtown, the opposition to it was centered on allegations that it had caused an increase in crime and police calls at Landmark Recreation Center, where it had previously operated.

That argument was based on a letter written by Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria to the Peoria Liquor Commission in which he stated he had "significant concern" about Highly Flavored operating out of Landmark Recreation and cited that there was 119 calls for police service to Landmark while Highly Flavored was operating there.

Likewise, Landmark's management also wrote a letter in opposition to Highly Flavored, citing the police calls while also saying that Highly Flavored brought increased security concerns to their property.

As it turns out, there were actually fewer police calls to Landmark during the eight months Highly Flavored was there than over the same period of time the prior year, city attorney Patrick Hayes told the council.

More: Amid relocation, Peoria restaurant faces 'significant concerns' over liquor application

Hayes told the council that he reviewed all 18 written police reports from Landmark during Highly Flavored's tenure there and noted that only three of the reports actually mentioned Highly Flavored. He said none of those reports indicated that Highly Flavored was at fault for the police presence.

"I am unable to indicate to the council that there is any verifiable proof of any increase in criminality or calls for service related to Highly Flavored's operational issues at Landmark," Hayes said. "Other people may have anecdotal issues, but I could not prove a case if I was before you seeking to sanction Highly Flavored for their business operations during that period of time."

Highly Flavored's owner Jeremy Sargent said the time it has taken the city council to make a decision about his business has impacted his family and his finances.

His business moved out of Landmark in May after an eight-month stint and soon after announced plans to open downtown. Since then, his business had been kept in limbo about whether it would be allowed to sell liquor.

On Tuesday night, Sargent got his long-awaited answer.

More: Four deaths since 2021: Timeline of accidents at Caterpillar facilities near Peoria

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: After contentious debate, Downtown Peoria restaurant denied liquor license for new space