The town of Westborough will receive 22 additional liquor licenses in the next three years, the economic development department announced Wednesday.
“Restaurants and similar businesses play a key role in our local economy and serve as anchor tenants in large-scale retail developments,” Francisco Torres, economic development coordinator for Westborough, said in a statement.
The ability for these locations to sell alcohol enhances the marketability of that establishment, he said, and it has been a limiting factor in the types of businesses the town can attract to Westborough.
The state legislature approved 22 additional liquor licenses for the community. This was a departure from the traditional way of getting liquor licenses through a lengthy legislative process.
“This inefficient system makes it difficult for our town to move at the speed at which businesses require,” Torres said.
The new licenses will be for on-premises consumption only and will be phased in with eight new licenses in 2017, eight in 2018 and six in 2019.
