Municipalities want liquor licenses to flow more easily
Massachusetts lawmakers continue to face reminders that when it comes to local economic development, liquor licenses are considered a key to success.
While licenses are allotted at the municipal level, many cities and towns have hit their caps and that means they have to ask legislators to pass special bills when additional licenses are needed. The dynamic means lawmakers serve as middlemen between local planners and developers and the lucrative licenses sought by their communities.
That was the case again on Tuesday as Rep. Colleen Garry, ( D-Dracut,) appealed to a legislative committee for a batch of licenses to accommodate anticipated restaurant development in Tyngsborough. Local officials hope to further develop a corridor that crosses the New Hampshire state line into the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua.
Officials said 30,000 vehicles a day travel through the area. "We're looking at that corridor as sort of our economic engine," said Curt Bellevance, Tyngsborough's town administrator.
Garry said developers want to know if licenses will be available, and town officials don't want to have to tell them they might be able to get licenses, depending on the success of legislation. "We just want to have them in a drawer," Garry told the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee on Tuesday.
Under her bill, which was recommended by Tyngsborough Ttown Mmeeting, the town would have 14 additional licenses to give out, with the condition that theyose licenses may not be transferred for three years after they’re issued date of issuance.
Bills granting alcohol licenses are frequently passed through the legislature without debate, giving lawmakers an opportunity to deliver something tangible for their communities while legislative leaders work on more sweeping bills with statewide impacts. While most liquor license bills draw little attention, the topic exploded into public view in 2008, when a license was at the heart of a federal bribery case involving former Sen. Dianne Wilkerson of Boston.
Dedham Rep. Paul McMurtry on Tuesday appealed for a single license for the operators of the Mother Brooks Arts and Community Center on High Street in that town.
The building at that location, a former elementary school, houses 20 artists and hosts open studio events and concerts. McMurtry told his colleagues one open house there drew 2,000 attendees.
Under the bill McMurtry filed with Sen. Michael Rush, the license authorized by the bill "shall be subject to an original application fee of $5,000 more than the annual fee for existing alcoholic beverages licenses in the town," with the added funds targeted for a town economic development fund.
Committee co-chair Rep. Jennifer Benson told McMurtry she has two towns in her House district that are also looking to repurpose municipal buildings, and said in an interview after the hearing that lawmakers are accustomed to fielding requests for alcohol licenses to support restaurants that are part of local development projects.
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