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Date: 1/11/2023
BELCHERTOWN – The town was awarded another all alcohol license to give to a business and the Select Board is figuring out the best way to do so.
Belchertown is allowed to have a certain number of full alcohol licenses based on the population.
The town was only allowed to grant three licenses up to this point but after a 2020 census update of the town, their population grew to over 15,000 people granting it another license to award.
The board enacted a three month moratorium that is set to expire on Feb. 28.
The moratorium was put in place to restrict any businesses from submitting applications for a new liquor license.
This gave the board time to set up criteria for all the current applications they intend to receive from businesses looking to upgrade to a full alcohol license.
The Select Board discussed a rough draft for a rubric at their Jan. 3 meeting.
The first matter they discussed was extending the moratorium to March 3 to allow the Select Board a little more time.
Select Board Chair Jim Barry said, “If we start looking at a calendar, the 28th is a Tuesday and we wouldn’t meet until the following Monday. We also must plan where the 30 days are and advertise two weeks before that.”
This would allow the earliest application to come in on March 6 and a public hearing would be hosted on April 3 for any of the applications submitted.
The estimated deadline is March 17 for any applicant who wishes to submit an application.
The board then discussed things they plan to take into consideration and potential use of a score sheet to decide who they think deserves the final liquor license.
Barry added, “This would be more of a guideline for us and not guarantee that the highest score will be granted the license.”
The scoresheet would be for the Select Board to use before the public hearing, and they can either increase or decrease their score based on meeting the applicants.
Some questions on the application would include if the applicant had liquor license experience, if the applicants have had any violations relating to the liquor license laws, why the applicant wants the license.
Some members of the Select Board feared that the scoresheet would make it harder for new business to get the license.
“I just don’t want to see us eliminate an applicant because they don’t have an all alcohol license. It feels like that has been part of the conversation. It doesn’t seem fair to have an applicant who fits most of the criteria but does not have all alcohol license experience.” Select Board Clerk Peg Louraine said.
Select Board member Ed Boscher added, “I share that concern. I agree with [town counsel] Gregg Corbo that we should get rid of the scoresheet and base our opinions off the positives and negatives.”
The Select Board decided to drop the score sheet and base their decision on the questions on the application and interviews at the public hearing.
Select Board Vice Chair Ron Aponte said, “I would say this is like a job interview where you have the same type of questions and look for skill sets. Utilizing the matrix without the scoring still works as we look at the positive and negative attributes of each applicant.”
The Select Board said they will also investigate personal background information about the applicants along with any violation to their business.
Boscher asked, “If we are going to consider anybody new for this license, is there anything that would apply for a probationary period? For example, if they have a couple violations in their first couple of years can we revoke the license.”
Corbo was at the meeting to talk about what would happen after a license was granted.
Corbo said, “All license holders are always under a probationary period and are subject to suspension or revocation. The liquor license also only lasts one year.”
Corbo added, “After that year the applicant would have to come in front of the board for renewal. At that time, you will look at the record of the license holder over the course of that year and decide whether to renew or not.”
The Select Board agreed they will discuss further and write up a final copy to present to the public by February.
Barry added, “We want to get this done as soon as possible so that we can advertise and let the public and businesses know ahead of time.”