State alcohol board denies second bar at Wasilla wedding venue, refunds fees

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board denied a second plumbed bar at Doug Massie's Knik Landing wedding venue on Knik Goose Bay Road in Wasilla, then voted unanimously to refund his endorsement fees. The board separately approved transferring the site's two liquor licenses, 596 and 597, and an expanded premises, while excluding and tabling the fixed-counter request. Massie said he has a back-up plan: a rolling bar.

Massie told the board at its June 23 meeting in Fairbanks he built a 6,000-square-foot venue in a separate building next to Knik Bar & Liquor Store. "I've invested about $1.2 million into this operation and had I known that we would be stalled out here, I would've gone a different route," he said.

Chief Investigator Joe Bankowski confirmed an agent had told Massie his diagram looked good. Board member Diane Thompson read the statute requiring multiple fixed counters in the same building, and the motion failed 4-0. Massie retains appeal rights.