WESTFIELD – The city’s License Commission began its review of two beer and wine sales applications submitted by the owner of two neighborhood variety stores as a convenience for patrons, but the board will have to wait until at least September to make its final decision.
The owners of New Corner Variety on Prospect Hill and the Pleasant Street Market at the downtown intersection of Pleasant, South Main and West Silver streets are seeking a malt and wine license from the commission.
That license petition and review delay is due to a zoning regulation, adopted in 1990, which requires a special permit review by the Planning Board for any business selling alcoholic beverages within 500 feet of a school or church.
The city under IV., General Use Regulations states: No permit shall be issued for the erection, enlargement or conversion of a structure utilized for the purpose of selling or service alcoholic beverages which is situated within five hundred (500) feet, measured by a direct line from entrance to entrance, of any lot used for a church or a public and/or parochial school primarily intended for the education of students in Grades K through 12, unless a special permit has been obtained from the Planning Board. Said permit shall be obtained from the Planning Board before application is made for any other permit in connection with the proposed erection, enlargement or conversion. (Adopted 02/15/90)
License Department Director Denise Carey said the Planning Board requirement has been in place since 1990, but has not been enforced during her tenure with the License Commission and that the issue was recently raised by Principal Planner Jay Vinskey during a round table review of the two variety store applications.
Carey said the License Commission had already slated its agenda and have done legal advertising for the two public hearings and that members decided to conduct a preliminary review of the petitions to ensure compliance with state and city alcoholic-license requirements.
The New Corner Variety is owned by NCVR, Inc. and the Pleasant Street Market by PSM, Inc., which are owned by Laura L. Parker, who said during the truncated hearing that she is looking at a small area for the beer and wine sales.
“I just don’t have the room (at New Corner Variety), I can’t expand because I need all of the parking I have for sandwich and deli sales. I plan to start small: one cooler on the floor for six-packs of beer and one stand for wine,” Parker said.
Parker described the clientele of the New Corner Variety as principally Prospect Hill residents and that the beer and wine sales is a convenience for those residents instead of having to go “off the hill to downtown.”
The proposed beer and wine sales area at the Pleasant Street Market is well-defined and is already segregated from the rest of the store because it is the area used for sale of tobacco products and has a gate preventing entry without a clerk buzzing the gate open.
Parker said that both stores have robust security camera systems and she is having new cash registers installed for the beer and wine point of sales controls. The system will lock out alcohol sales during off hours and prevent alcoholic beverages from being sold at other cash registers.
“The tobacco business is in decline, has been for the past 15 years, so if I want to be in business in five years, I have to be proactive to get people to spend a little more money,” Parker said.
The commission members raised a number of issues, including TIPS (Training and Intervention Procedures for Servers of alcohol) for all managers and for clerks working in alcohol sales, a detailed diagram showing beer and wine areas for display and storage.
The two hearings were continued to the License Commission’s Sept. 14 session. The Planning Board will conduct its own public hearing on the two special permit applications at its Aug. 18 meeting.
