Zoning, Licensing and Construction Committee
Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 7:00 PM
Mariners House, 11 North Square, 2ndFloor
(PDF Version of Agenda)
Zoning Appeals and License Applications
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM
4 Foster Street, Keith Berton and Kelly Bonzani have filed an appeal for a variance to the Zoning Code to change the legal occupancy of the basement to residential living space as part of the conversion of the former multi-unit building to single family use.
7:15 PM – 7:30 PM
65 Salem Street, “Pauli’s,” Pace Management Group has applied to the Licensing Board for a new C.V. 7-Day Malt and Wine License to be operated in the restaurant/sandwich shop during the hours of 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM seven days.
7:30 PM – 7:45 PM
341 Hanover Street, The Wine Bottega, Kerri Platt has applied to the Licensing Board to remove a restriction in the license in order to allow the sale of malt beverages in addition to the currently allowed sale of wine.
7:45 PM – 8:00 PM
64 Cross Street, formerly “Café Graffiti,” Lee Napoli is seeking zoning relief for Take-Out use associated with plans to operate a bakery/café in the space formerly Café Graffiti. Counter service of baked goods and food items and seating for 25 are currently planned. Plans currently do not include alcohol service.
8:00 PM – 8:15 PM
27 Clark Street, Paul DiBenedetto has filed an appeal for variance to the Zoning Code to extend the residential living space of the first floor unit into the basement.
Updates and Other Business 8:15 PM – 9:00 PM
· Recent Board of Appeal and Licensing Board decisions
· Neighborhood Alcohol Licenses Update
· Parcel 9 development proposals and MassDOT selection process
· One Canal Project (Bulfinch Triangle Parcel 2(A,B,C) and supermarket component
· BRA RFQ/P for new Downtown Waterfront/Greenway Municipal Harbor Plan
For more information about ZLC Committee meetings, contact David Kubiak, ZLC Committee Co-chair, at zlc@newra.org.
The wine bottega was turned down before by the neghborhood council when they tried to have the restriction removed. It does not matter how yuppified the beer selection is…there are plenty of places on Hanover St and Salem St and Parmenter St to buy beer and the Wine Bottega should remain what it is… a really nice wine store.
Why does a predominantly take out place like Pauli's need a beer and wine license?
“there are plenty of places on Hanover St and Salem St and Parmenter St to buy beer and the Wine Bottega should remain what it is… a really nice wine store.”
Well, if it becomes a nice wine AND BEER store, it may force the other places on Salem and Hanover to adjust their pricing, their inventory, or maybe even put one of them out of businesss. It isn’t up to you, or I to decide if the neighborhood “needs” another place to buy beer. It’s up to the free market. Let them sell it, if it’s profitable, they’ll continue to do so. If it isn’t, they won’t. Will it really affect anyone’s life if a place that already sells alcohol just sells a different type? What if they want to sell rice wine? Dessert wines?
Actually…the wine bottega got its original license to do business by promising that it would not sell beer….ever. This was the basis for NEWNC opposing tghe new owner’s original request to sell HIGH END BOUTIQUE beer. She wasnlt planning on selling 24 packs of Budwiser. So I doubt she would have any impact on other stores prices for beer. As you said…it is a free market and the other stores will charge what the market will bear. It is up the neighborhood to make business owners keep the promises that were made when the neighborhood supported their opening a business. That promise by the wine bottega was that it would sell wine only. it is up to the neighborhood to make decisions that impact the quality of life here.you might have a better chance of persuading me if you grew a set and used your real name.
I think there’s a tipping point to all of these alcohol licenses. No one can tell me that all of the problems the NE has with drunken rowdiness is not caused, at least partially, by the availability of alcohol in the neighborhood…both in the cafes, clubs, restaurants and bars, as well as the package stores.
You cannot allow a place like the Living Room to extend their license to 2AM and then be surprised when drunks are ruling the neighborhood after 2AM on weekends. There’s a cause and affect.
I’m all for the businesses doing well in the NE and support their efforts…but at some point, enough is enough and I think we are at that point now.
Unfortuantely the owner of the living room did a really good job of getting out his supporters this last time and NOBODY showed up in opposition to his getting a 2AM license. The thing that everyone needs to understand is that there is a cap by the state alcohol board on the total number of alcohol licenses available in MA and there is afinite number of licenses available to the city of Boston. Under the former head of Boston’s licensing board, there was an unwritten INFORMAL cap on the number of licenses in the North End. The new Head of the Licensing Commission does not believe in caps and appears to be more supportive of businesses then the residents (that is just a personal observation and not a set in stone factoid). So NEWRAs caps are NEWRAs caps and not the city’s. Both NEWRA and NEWNC are ADVISORY to both the Licensing and Zoning Boards. The final decisions are out of the neighboihoods hands. BTW…the people who are coming back drunk are coming from the Living Room and Faneul Hall and North Station and Landsdowne St and not from the Restaurants on Hanover St or Salem St. Different crowd of slightly older people hanging out in these places.
“BTW…the people who are coming back drunk are coming from the Living Room and Faneul Hall and North Station and Landsdowne St and not from the Restaurants on Hanover St or Salem St. Different crowd of slightly older people hanging out in these places.”
There’s absolutely no way you can say that with 100% accuracy. That’s more of an opinion.
I see people stumbling out of NE restaurants at midnight and later…of all ages. As I’ve said, I’m all for businesses prospering in the NE. But to think there’s no connection between drunken rowdiness and the number of liquor licenses in the NE is very naive indeed.
I love when someone does not like when I disagree with them and resorts to name calling. FYI….At my age, calling me naive is a compliment.
You are right, there is no way I can know that for certain ulnless the booze has a chemical marker for each establishment and I get a blood or urine sample to be tested. (sarcasm intended) However….the BPD seems to think that the drunks are coming from these areas and not the restaurants in the NE. Most of the 21 to 23 year olds cannot afford to drink here so if they are leaving NE restaurants drunk it is probably because finished a 24 pack BEFORE they left home. (I see it every weekend in the building across from me) If there was one license or 100 licenses in the NE, the people who LIVE HERE and want to get drunk will find somewhere to drink and get hammered and come home and scream and puke and pee everywhere.
The city is never going to rescind an existing license unless there is some egregious violation on the part of the license holder .As long as greedy landlords jack up rents so much that a non restaurant business cannot survive in the North End, there are licenses available and people are willing to pay the price to buy them on the open market or have the patience to wait out the licensing board to get a new and cheaper license, and there is a Licensing Board who appears to be pro business and not as neighborhood supportive as the former DIrector Pulkowski, there will be AT LEAST 90 pouring licenses and probably more as everyone like Pauli claims they need an alcohol license to survive.
This is not just my opinion. This is 26 yrs of living here, 6 yrs on the neighborhood council , attending more meetings than I care to remember, and talking to politicians, residents, business owners, and the police about this topic.