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The state ABC commission could decide next month whether a liquor store can be built next to a Greensboro high school.

The Guilford County school board voted 10-0 Thursday night to file a formal complaint with the N.C. ABC Commission against plans by the Greensboro ABC Board to build a liquor store on Pisgah Church Road next to the SCALE Academy. The school is one of the system’s alternative high schools.

State laws do not restrict ABC stores from being located beside schools.

State law allows the commission to consider the proximity to a school or church — 50 feet or less — when awarding ABC permits to businesses. ABC stores do not hold ABC permits, but Mike Herring, the administrator for the ABC commission, said the three-person panel refers to the permit law when these issues come up with stores.

“Normally the distance between the two is much more than in this particular situation,” Herring said.

State law also allows the commission to consider whether the location of the store will adversely affect the community’s health, safety or general welfare.

The commission could take the issue up Oct. 15. The meeting, in Raleigh, will be open to the public.

The local ABC board wants to relocate a store in the Village at North Elm shopping center about three-quarters of a mile from the school. Katie Alley, the CEO of the Greensboro ABC Board, said the agency rents that property and will own the proposed location.

The move would mean increased profits and more control over the property, she said.

“It’s important for us to be a good neighbor with the schools,” Alley said.

The site proposal was scheduled for state approval Aug. 15 but was tabled last month and again this month after the school board raised objections. Schools officials and ABC board officials met several times but came to no resolution.

Alley said the ABC board has safeguards to protect minors, including a background check on all employees, officers checking identification and cameras. She said these measures, as well as the work the board does in the schools, should protect students.

“We thought the proximity to the school was a good thing,” Alley said, adding that school officials would be able to see students if they tried to visit the store.

Schools superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green advised the school board to take a stand against the store. He said he opposes the location of a liquor store next to any school but the fact that the SCALE Academy attempts to reach the most at-risk students only accentuates how inappropriate the move would be.

“When you start talking about all the safeguards in place, doesn’t that get you to start asking, 'Well why is that?’” he said.

The Pisgah Church store reports revenue of about $3 million per year, making it among the state’s most profitable. By law, ABC board profits are distributed to the city.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com