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• Hundreds flock to attend Lodi's annual Sandhill Crane Festival

• Lodi planners to review liquor licenses, flashing signs

• Veterans Day closures

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

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• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

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• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

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November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

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• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

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• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

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• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

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November 17th, 2009

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• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

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November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

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• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

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The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (170)
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• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (73)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (52)
• The haves should help the have-nots (31)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (25)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (18)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (17)

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Lodi planners to review liquor licenses, flashing signs

Lodi planners are set to consider Wednesday the abundance of liquor outlets in Lodi and the question of whether the city should allow flashing signs.

For its population, Lodi has more than twice the number of off-sale liquor licenses than is recommended by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control board.

An ABC district administrator and a license supervisor will speak to the commission about the state's guidelines and will answer questions from the commissioners, said Konradt Bartlam, Lodi's community development director.

A suggestion that the city impose a "three strikes" rule -- where liquor stores with too many police calls could be cited or have their use permits revoked -- has been floated at meetings of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber President Pat Patrick has mentioned the idea at meetings with Leadership Lodi participants and at meetings of the Chamber's Governmental Relations Committee.

However, Patrick said Friday it is "way too early" to present the suggestion to either the Planning Commission or to the City Council.

"The Planning Commission has not made up their minds about what they will do," he said. "When they do, we will look at that and decide what recommendations we will make."

The commission has requested liquor license density information about surrounding communities such as Elk Grove, Galt and Rio Vista.

City staff should have that information available by Wednesday's meeting, said Planning Commissioner Dennis Haugan.

Following the liquor license discussion, commissioners will again take up the matter of whether to grant an off-sale liquor license use permit to the Casa Del Pueblo grocery store on East Pine Street. The permit request had been continued from a previous meeting, as commissioners gathered more information about the number of liquor licenses in Lodi.

Off-sale liquor licenses permit the sale of sealed containers of alcoholic beverages, which cannot be consumed on or near the store's property.

The Community Development Department did not issue a recommendation on issuing a permit to the grocery store, pending the presentation by the ABC.

The commissioners will also consider the issue of signs with lights that flash.

In what Bartlam called "an after-the-fact request," the Bank of Stockton will make its bid for a use permit for its revamped sign on Church Street, which has a lighted time and temperature module. The bank's sign company did not get the necessary permits for the sign, which was powered up in September.

The city's building code requires a special permit for all flashing signs in the city -- and the bank's failure to get the proper permits for the work had raised the ire of the commissioners.

At the time, Planning Commissioner Randy Heinitz said he considers flashing signs a potential safety hazard, and was unhappy that the bank had apparently sidestepped the permitting process.

The Community Development Department has recommended approval of the bank's sign.

Last month, the commissioners voted to require a similar use permit for the Geweke auto dealership on Beckman Road for two large state-of-the-art electronic signs. Geweke's consultant had argued unsuccessfully that the giant lighted signs, with pictures that could change every few seconds or could blend from one to another, did not actually "flash."

In other action, owners of a property on South Church Street will appeal a city ruling that they are allowed to have only two "dwelling units" on their property -- the owners say that they are allowed to have three, the number of units there now. The origins of the issue date back to 1946.

The city maintains that the third unit, constructed inside the main house, never received the proper permits and violates both zoning and building rules. The property owners say it's perfectly legal, said Bartlam, and claim the third building was there when they purchased the property.

"That may be true, but it doesn't matter when it was built," Bartlam said. "If it's there illegally, then it's there illegally."

The city has no records of permits being issued for the building, according to Bartlam.

He added that discussion of this item may take a while, since it will require unwinding more than 50 years of legal wrangling.

The commissioners will also consider a suggestion by Bartlam to extend the time allowed for the appeal of Planning Commission decisions from five calendar days to 10.

The Lodi Planning Commission meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Forum, 305 W. Pine St. For more information, call the Community Development Department at 333-6711.