WESTFIELD – Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy will sponsor a motion to remove a city ordinance which recently exposed the city to litigation tonight at the City Council session which will begin an hour late at 8 p.m., because today is Westfield Day at the Big E.
Figy’s motion, if approved by the City Council, will strip the Planning Board of authority to review applications for the sale of alcohol within 500 feet of a school or church.
The Planning Board denied an alcohol application submitted by the owner of two convenience stores who is currently litigating the city’s authority to giving the Planning Board the ability to review alcohol related applications.
“Basically, we should not have two city agencies dealing with these issues, especially since the state ABCC (Alcohol Beverage Control Commission) delegates its authority to the License Commission,” Figy said.
Figy’s motion is to delete Section 4-110 from the city’s zoning ordinance because “it is redundant to the License Commission jurisdiction” and because”it has been sporadically enforced.”
Figy said the litigation, filed with the Land Court Division on Sept. 14, by Attorney Bradford B. Moir on behalf of Laura L Parker of Southwick has a “little bit to do” with his motion. Figy said he is sponsoring the motion to delete the redundant review by the Planning Board at the request of the city’s Director of Licensing.
Figy said there are a number of restaurants and pubs currently operating in the downtown area, which has numerous churches and a school, and that none of those existing businesses were subject to a special permit issued by the Planning Board
Moir, in the suit, contends that the ordinance giving the Planning Board authority to review alcohol license applications exceeds the city’s authority under the state’s Home Rule law because the state Legislature has established the ABCC as the sole authority to regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages in the state.
Moir also argues that the city’s License Commission is delegated as the local review board by the ABCC, not the Planning Board. All decision’s of the License Commission are sent to the ABCC for review and final approval.
Moir said recently that the suit is similar to a recent case before the state’s Supreme Judicial Court in which the City of Lynn had established, under the theory of Home Rule, local zoning regulations pertaining to where sex offenders could live, which were far more stringent that laws established by the General Court of the state Legislature.
The SJC found that when state law is “so comprehensive” in its scope, it prohibits Home Rule regulations by local communities.
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has comprehensive laws and regulations governing and controlling the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages, including the granting of licenses,” Moir said. “State regulation is so comprehensive that there is no local regulatory authority. “The ABCC has preempted local control (outside its local agent, the License Commission).
“State law gives the License Commission discretion, but the local (zoning) ordinance extends that same authority to the Planning Board,” Moir said. “The SJC overturned the Lynn sex offender ordinance on this same basis.
