By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Downtown Benicia Alliance will consider a request Monday that the business group ally with the Benicia Art Walk Committee to obtain special day licenses from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Without those licenses, store proprietors may not serve wine to those attending the Art Walk, even a small portion at no charge.

Last month, Pat Ryll, an Art Walk Committee member, asked the DBA “to be the umbrella to be able to supply the people on First Street if they want to serve alcohol at a reception or an Art Walk, that they can comply with the ABC.”

Each business that wants to serve wine would need a $25 license, because the Benicia Art Walk is a city event, Ryll said. That cost would be borne by those businesses, not the DBA, she said.

“There’s not dollars out the door for the DBA,” Ryll assured DBA members last month. However, to obtain an ABC license, a nonprofit must take the lead in submitting and administering the license, Chairperson Leah Shelhorn wrote the DBA board in a Sept. 6 report.

“As such, Pat Ryll has requested that the DBA serve as the nonprofit to provide that support,” Shelhorn wrote.

She has recommended approval for 2014.

Ryll said last month that Benicia’s art galleries already observe specific ABC regulations, such as preventing guests from pouring their own drinks and limiting alcohol consumption.

The DBA also will discuss a new contract to maintain the tree lights on First Street. The current contract with ATG expires Dec. 31.

The meeting, open to the public, starts at 9 a.m. Monday at the Rellik Tavern, 726 First St.

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