In its first regular meeting since the return of newly elected Chairman Peter Warren from vacation, the Board of Selectmen cleared the way Tuesday for Harvard to issue a liquor license to the owner of the Harvard Plaza on Ayer Road to sell beer and wine, even though the topic was not on the agenda and one of the conditions set by the BOS remained unmet.
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| The temporary sign at the entrance to Harvard Plaza at 285 Ayer Road. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz) |
By a 3-2 vote, preceded by sharp differences of opinion, the BOS narrowly agreed to a motion by Selectman Ron Ricci and seconded by newly elected selectman Bill Johnson that gives Harvard Plaza owner Robert Hirsch until November—when his license will come up for renewal—to replace a temporary sign at the entrance to his mall at 285 Ayer Road.
Moving the sign was one of several conditions the BOS set earlier this year when it approved Hirsch’s application for one of three off-premises liquor licenses the BOS has been authorized to issue by Town Meeting and the state legislature. According to the site plan for the plaza on file with Harvard’s Planning Board, the sign is not where it is supposed to be and as of this week had yet to be moved. Moreover, zoning enforcement officer and building inspector Gabe Vellante has yet to say that the plaza has complied with all of the town’s protective bylaws. According to letters that license administrator and Town Administrator Tim Bragan has received from the chief of police, fire chief and Board of Health, Hirsch is in compliance with all of the other conditions spelled out by the BOS. The Harvard General Store, which met the several conditions of its application, was issued a license earlier this month.
In urging the BOS to issue Hirsch his license now, Ricci said the Harvard Plaza sign had been in place “about 30 years.” “At some point,” he said, “the sign has to be moved,” but that condition “was a Board of Selectmen condition that we added … It does not affect the public safety, does not affect the public welfare, does not affect the safety of selling [beer and wine] in this community.”
Voting in favor of the motion were Ricci, Johnson, and Warren. Selectmen Tim Clark and Marie Sobalvarro voted against it, and immediately following the meeting, Clark challenged the decision, which he described in an e-mail to the Press as “outrageous.” In a separate e-mail, Clark asked Bragan to withhold the license until the town’s lawyer, Mark Lanza, can review the board’s action. “I assert,” wrote Clark, “the selectmen exceeded their authority by arbitrarily modifying the conditions of the license without a public hearing and in violation of state and local law.” And although the Board of Health that evening had sent a letter to the BOS saying that all Title V and water issues had been “resolved,” Clark also questioned whether the physical documents that would support its claim actually existed.
For Selectwoman Marie Sobalvarro, who drafted the liquor license policies and procedures which the BOS recently adopted by a unanimous vote, the action violated the premise of her work. “If we’re making variances,” she said, “we should have done that at the time we established the conditions.”
Ricci’s motion caught both Clark and Sobalvarro off guard. Both told the Press afterward that they had not known the issue would be discussed. In a brief phone interview, Johnson, who seconded Ricci’s motion after some hesitation, said he did not know it would come up either. “It was not on the agenda,” he said.
Both Hirsch and his lawyer, Roy Pastor of Ayer Road, were present in the Town Hall meeting room, which was otherwise sparsely occupied by three reporters and abutters involved in an appeal—later rejected—to modify the entertainment and liquor licenses recently issued to Fruitlands Museum.
“You were aware of the sign issue, is that correct?” Warren asked Hirsch.
“I was only aware of the sign issue when Mr. Vellante came up to the property to discuss it,” said Hirsch.
“Did you receive a copy of the findings of this commission?” asked Warren, referring to the findings and conditions on Hirsch’s application that were drafted by town counsel Lanza and approved by the BOS earlier this year.
“I didn’t see anything [about] the sign,” answered Hirsch.
“I guess you didn’t,” muttered Warren, as he flipped through the document, which says, in Condition 5(b), that “exterior signage” must comply with town bylaws.
“The sign will be moved by August,” promised Hirsch, who offered in a later exchange to sign a letter to that effect.
“That’s awesome news,” replied Sobalvarro with some sarcasm. The BOS, she said, would be willing to issue the license when the work is done. “I don’t see the need for an exception.”
Johnson, who proved to be the swing vote, said that issuing the license now but requiring compliance by November was in his mind the “common sense” and “reasonable” thing to do.
Warren, though he had earlier expressed some concern about the length of time being granted Hirsch to comply, praised Hirsch for the work he had done so far on the Plaza. “I must commend you on what you have done to improve Ayer Road,” he said. “The parking lot looks great, the lighting is there, the interior of your store is excellent….I think you have done everything except this sign issue….I think the Board would be remiss in not granting a license so you can commence business.”
In other action, the BOS did not take up a motion by Ricci to reconsider the conditions on the entertainment and liquor licenses recently issued the Fruitlands Museum. The question had been placed on the Tuesday evening agenda by Warren at the request of Don Green, and Rhonda and Witt Sprague, whose properties abut museum grounds. Ricci’s motion to reconsider “for purposes of discussion” was not seconded and the matter was dropped. But earlier in the evening Fruitlands Director Tim Firment reminded the BOS of the process his organization had been made to follow to modify its own licenses and said it was important that the board be “consistent” in the application of its policies.