Economy

On Thursday, the Bethel Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for a liquor store that the Alaska Commercial Company wants to build.

Napakiak applied for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to help repair its eroding boat landing; spring storms wiped out most of it this year. Now barges, boats, and hovercraft don’t have a place to park.

The state’s battle to reduce the size of its budget played out in microcosm in the chambers of the Bethel City Council, which voted unanimously to raise the rent charged to the state for the DMV office in front of city hall. The state had requested a rent lower than market value due to budget cuts, but the city council refused. The difference is several thousand dollars per year, but council member Mitchell Forbes called it principle, the city’s “$6,000 pushback to Gov. [Mike] Dunleavy’s approach to rural Alaska.” 

The Alaska Commercial Company, better known as AC, wants to open another liquor store in Bethel. On Thursday, June 13 the Bethel Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to give the business a permit it would need to do that. Receiving a conditional use permit means that the commission considers the proposed location safe to operate a liquor store. In AC’s case, that location is the old Sammy’s Market on Bethel’s Third Avenue.

Bethel is now only weeks away from its first marijuana store. The state Marijuana Control Board approved the license for ALASKAbuds "with delegation."  That means it’s approved with a condition, the condition being state fire marshal approval. 

Nick Miller owns ALASKAbuds with his wife. He also sits on the Marijuana Control Board, but he didn’t get to vote on his own application. Miller says that he is not worried about getting fire marshal approval.

The Bethel DMV office closed without warning on Friday, May 10. A sign posted next to the door said that the office is closed indefinitely.