Sitka brewery and coffee shop compete for the city's last restaurant liquor license

Harbor Mountain Brewing Company and Highliner Coffee both want Sitka's last available restaurant liquor license, and the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is scheduled to take up their competing applications Tuesday, Nov. 10. The board can grant only one.

State law allows one restaurant or eating place license for each 1,500 residents, or fraction of that population, in a combined city and borough such as Sitka. Under state regulation, applications for the last available license that arrive within 30 days of the first are treated as competing. The board considers them together, as if they had arrived at the same time. Harbor Mountain applied Jan. 28 and Highliner on Feb. 17. The board tabled both at its August special meeting.

The City and Borough of Sitka Assembly approved both applications at its Sept. 22 meeting without choosing between them. "There were no preferences or priorities expressed by the local governing body," Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson said in a Sept. 23 email to the state's alcohol licensing office.

A local preference is one of the factors the board may weigh. State regulation lets the board grant the application it considers most in the public interest, based on each site's safety, suitability and distance from other licensed businesses, its size, and amenities such as dining and entertainment. If competing applications remain after those steps, the board may hold a drawing. The application not chosen is denied without prejudice, so that business can apply again.

A license granted Nov. 10 would issue only after the unsuccessful applicant's appeal period ends and the successful applicant meets all remaining requirements in state law.

Highliner Coffee plans to serve at 327 Seward St., Suite 5. Justin Peeler owns the corporation, formed in 2001, outright, according to its application file. The cafe lists hours of 5:30 am to 8 pm daily, with counter service, deli sandwiches and daily specials. It offers no entertainment. Its lease runs through August 2028, with options to extend.

Harbor Mountain Brewing Company plans to serve at 1209 Sawmill Creek Road, Unit A, where it has operated for more than five years under brewery and winery licenses. Four owners each hold a 25% stake: Baranof Investments LLC, Gordon K. Helem, Sitkoh Investments and Zachary L. Anderson. Its application says it now holds eight event permits a year for live music, local artists and beverage releases, and those events would happen more often under a restaurant license. It lists hours of 11 am to 9 pm daily. Its lease runs one year from March 1, with an option for five more years.

The board meets at 9 am in Anchorage, according to its meeting agenda.