Plans for a liquor store to serve southwest Salt Lake County have changed, but not enough to satisfy Riverton officials.

State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to build a state liquor store in the Riverton Depot shopping center on the northeast corner of 13400 South and Bangerter Highway.

The $2 million store will be built on a little more than an acre of vacant land at the shopping center anchored by Home Depot. Construction is expected to begin in March, allowing the store to open before Thanksgiving next year.

Despite the Riverton City Council's opposition to having a state liquor store in the city, DABC commissioners in June approved a site in a shopping center at 12600 South and Bangerter Highway, where Lowe's has since opened.

Dennis Kellen, the department's director of operations, said those plans were scrapped because the state was unable to reach an agreement with property owners.

Kellen said the Home Depot location was seen as a more agreeable site because the store could be built farther from churches and schools and not be on a main road.

But commission chairman Larry Lunt said he doesn't expect Riverton leaders to see the new location as an improvement. "It's not so much an objection to a specific location; it's an objection to any location," he said.

Kellen said the department mailed a letter to Riverton city officials to notify them that the change would be discussed at the DABC commission meeting Wednesday. No representatives from Riverton were in attendance.

When reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Bill Applegarth said he was unaware that the state liquor store's location had been changed, and he expressed his concern with the way the DABC is allowed to operate.

"They are a commercial venture for the state of Utah, but they do not have to follow any of the rules other commercial ventures follow," Applegarth said.

Any other store that wants to locate in Riverton — or any other city — must receive approval of the planning commission and City Council, he said. "(State liquor) stores don't have to follow any of that," Applegarth said, "and that's of great concern to me."

The department began looking in Riverton for sites for a state liquor store about three years ago with the support of then-Mayor Mont Evans. The city's stance changed in January when Applegarth took office. By a 3-2 vote in February, the Riverton City Council approved a resolution to oppose construction of a liquor store anywhere in the city, citing concerns for its residents' health, safety and welfare.

But DABC is under legislative mandate to build a new store to serve southwest Salt Lake County. There are only three liquor stores south of 2100 South and west of I-15. The state liquor store located farthest south is at 5400 South and Bangerter Highway.

"This is really the kind of location we want," Lunt said of the new Riverton site. "I think it's as good a location as we'll ever get."

— Also Wednesday, commissioners denied the location of a second liquor store in St. George because of its proximity to Dixie State College. Plans called for the store to be built on 1.25 acres on the southwest side of the I-15/St. George Boulevard intersection.

DABC staff members have been instructed to begin searching for an alternate site.

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