The City of Powell once again has a retail liquor license that’s up for grabs.

At its Nov. 16 meeting, the Powell City Council voted to renew 12 retail liquor licenses, four limited retail licenses, two restaurant licenses and one microbrewery license. However, the Powell Clocktower Inn, LLC, did not renew its retail license, leaving it available for another business. The city is currently accepting applications for the license, with an application deadline of Dec. 15.

Steve Wahrlich, owner of the proposed Powell Clocktower Inn, had notified the city in advance of this month’s hearing that he did not intend to renew his license. Because the planned hotel and conference center still has not broken ground, Wahrlich said he didn’t want to hold it up any longer.

Councilors originally awarded the license to the Clocktower Inn in late 2018. At the time, Club Dauntless owner Stacy Bair had also sought the license, planning to build a complex that would include not only a gym, but also a high-end “Dauntless Club” sports bar. The city council chose the hotel project by a 4-2 vote.

Wahrlich originally planned to have the Clocktower Inn up and running by the spring of 2020, but various factors — most recently, the pandemic — have delayed the plans. In September, Wahrlich described the project as being in “wait and see” mode.

“We are still anxious to do the project but I’m not going to do it without knowing we’re going to have business through and through,” Wahrlich said.

Bair, meanwhile, moved forward with the fitness center portion of her plans and opened the Club Dauntless location in late 2019.

At its meeting last week, the council also voted to approve the transfer of a retail license from the previous owners of Mr. D’s Liquor Store to the new owners, Darin and Valerie Hill of Ridgeway, Colorado. Kami Scott, Mr. D’s manager, told the council that the Hills are planning some expansions to the liquor store, which might include cigar sales, but otherwise no changes are planned.

In the past year, Powell establishments had a total of six negative incidents. All but one involved sales to minors or underage drinking; the other related to a disturbance at The Red Zone in which the owner became involved, Powell police reported.

Liquor licenses come up for renewal every November, and the council has the option to grant one-year extensions for unused licenses. Further extensions of unused licenses can be granted in extraordinary circumstances.