Assembly to weigh protest of Flight Deck Bar liquor license renewal

A West Anchorage bar could have its liquor license renewal put on hold over unpaid municipal taxes and a missing Anchorage Fire Department certification. The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled Tuesday to consider a conditional protest of the renewal for the Flight Deck Bar/Arctic Inn on West International Airport Road.

If the Assembly adopts the resolution, it could be presented to the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office as proof of the protest. That would allow the office's director to hold processing of the license until the conditions are met.

Assembly Chair Brawley submitted the resolution. It targets a beverage dispensary tourism license held by Ivory Manufacturing Corp of AK at 832 W. International Airport Road, in the Taku/Campbell Community Council area. Municipal Clerk Jamie Heinz reports that taxes are owed to the Municipality of Anchorage and that fire department certification has not been received. Every other requirement is satisfied, including the Special Land Use Permit and the police, health, land use and building safety certifications.

State law authorizes local governing bodies such as the Assembly to protest the issuance, renewal or transfer of alcohol licenses. A conditional protest is a compliance tool rather than a final denial. It pauses state processing until the listed items are cleared. The Assembly has used the same mechanism in past cases involving unpaid municipal taxes and outstanding fire, health or land use approvals.

The clerk received the renewal application June 5. The license's listed expiration date is Dec. 31, 2025, and the application remains in review.

Tuesday, Aug. 4, is both the deadline to file a protest with the state office and the date of the Assembly's public hearing, where the applicant can respond. Once both conditions are met, the clerk may lift the protest without further Assembly action. The license at issue is No. 402.