WESTFIELD – The License Commission last night unanimously approved a full liquor license for the 99 Restaurant & Grill to be constructed on East Main Street at the former site of an automobile dealership.
The commission continued the public hearing from Dec. 8 to last night to allow the 99 Restaurants of Boston, LLC, which owns 62 restaurants in Massachusetts, six in the western part of the state, to submit additional information needed to grant the all-alcoholic beverage license.
The documents will be submitted by the city to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC) for further review.
The License Commission had requested the restaurant chain to submit a seating plan and other documents to enable Building Superintendent Jon Flagg and Fire Department inspectors to set a capacity limit.
The corporation, located in Tennessee, has not approved a restaurant design prior to the December meeting, information needed to establish the seating capacity of about 248 patrons in the 5,688-square-foot one-story restaurant facility which the restaurant chain plans to open next fall.
Flagg said that the Building Department will establish an occupancy permit after the Planning Board and Conservation Commission have completed their processes.
“They will have to come back to us for a building permit after the Planning Board has approved a site plan and stormwater management plan and after the Conservation Commission has reviewed the project because that whole area of East Main Street is in a flood plain,” Flagg said this morning.
Flagg said the occupancy permit will be issued when the corporation comes back for it occupancy permit after completing construction of the new building, but added that a limit of 248 “sounds about right” for a building with an area of nearly 6,000 square feet.
Attorney Joseph Devlin and Restaurant Manager Paul Panarelli said the seating plan was submitted to the Licensing Department and the site plan to the Planning Department.
99 Restaurants of Boston, LLC, is planning to demolish the former Regency Oldsmobile automobile dealership at 342 East Main St. and to construct a new building.
Devlin said that construction phase usually takes about six months but that phase is also contingent upon initiating the lease which may contain conditions to bring the site into compliance with the language of the lease.
