By CHRIS LINDAHL
@cmlindahl
Daily Hampshire Gazette
SOUTHAMPTON — After hearing overwhelming opposition from restaurant owners about a measure that would clarify when alcohol may be served, the Select Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to table the proposal.
The board will reconsider clarifying the last-call time after a committee, made up of residents and liquor license-holders, issues recommendations on the issue.
The regulations were proposed in an effort to clarify confusion about when restaurants and bars may serve alcohol. Though a license specifies the hours during which an establishment may serve alcohol, town officials and police are unclear whether 1 a.m. is for last call, or when the establishment must close for business.
Restaurant owners and residents were vocal in their firm opposition to the proposed regulations as written, which would set last call at no later than 12:30 a.m. and require that all alcoholic beverages be consumed by 12:45 a.m.
Under the proposal, tables and bars would be cleared of glasses and bottles within the next five minutes, and all customers would be off the premises by 1 a.m.
Resident Ed Batchelder argued that the proposed bylaw exceeded regulations set by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. Reading from a liquor license, he said the ABCC dictates that alcohol sales must stop at 1 a.m.
“It’s clearly indicated when they can sell alcohol,” Batchelder said. “If they serve at 10 after, that’s a violation.”
The town is allowed to create stricter regulations than set by the ABCC, Town Administrator Heather Budrewicz said.
In recent weeks police have filed about five reports with the Select Board, citing restaurants for violating their license. When police see patrons in a restaurant after 1 a.m., they consider it a violation, Budrewicz said, which highlights the need to create a set of clear regulations.
Antonio and Efthimios Rizos, owners of Opa Opa Steakhouse and Brewery, said they believe the proposed regulations were too heavy-handed. They say there is no distinction between their personal and work lives, and they will often entertain friends at their restaurant rather than having them come to their homes, sometimes after closing time.
Moreover, Antonio Rizos said the regulations would make them even less competitive with other establishments in Northampton and Easthampton, which close at 2 a.m.
The Rizoses also took issue with another part of the proposal, which would have required restaurant owners to notify police whenever someone is on the premises after closing time — even an electrician summoned to respond to an emergency at 3 a.m.
Efthimios Rizos likened police enforcement of the measures to “the Gestapo.” He added, “It’s a free country.”
Gary Silva of the Camp Jahn Association, a members-only club at 24 Camp Jahn Road, said the regulations were good in theory, but poorly executed. He specifically criticized the small window between the time the last drink is served and when the business must close.
“That’s just not happening — you’re going to have chaos,” Silva said.
The Rizoses, Batchelder and Select Board member Shannon Cutler also said they had a problem with a part of the proposed regulations that would require restaurant owners to notify the Select Board whenever they plan to close the restaurant, even if just for a vacation.
Budrewicz said it was an effort to crack down on so-called “pocket licenses.” That refers to a practice where holders of liquor licenses retain them even after closing their establishment in order to sell them at a later date for a higher profit.
Cutler said of the proposed regulations, “We’re going to micromanage and we’re going to make them upset. They’re serving us … we should be way more supportive.”
Select Board member Charles J. Kaniecki agreed, “They have to be part of this.”
“It’s not us against you, we want to make the rules as clear as possible,” Select Board Vice Chairman John O. Martin said of the need for a committee. “It’s obvious that this is overzealous and we’ll have to scale it back.”
The board invited all liquor license holders to serve on the committee. More specifics about forming the committee will be discussed at a later meeting.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at [email protected].
