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Licensing Commission requesting the amendment of Ordinance 2-219(a) to require that Public Hearings be held not less than 10 days after the first publication of the required legal notice.
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Official Text
To the Honorable Board:
The Somerville Licensing Commission is requesting a change to Ordinance 2-219(a), Liquor and Entertainment Licenses. In 2010, this ordinance was amended to require advertisement by publication for two (2) weeks instead of three (3) weeks. A further amendment was adopted to require “that a public hearing shall have been held, not less than three weeks after the notice’s first appearance”. The current ordinance reads as follows:
In no case shall a liquor or entertainment license be granted, or the hours of operation of either license be increased, until after a notice of the application for such license or increase in hours for such license shall have been published in at least one local newspaper for two consecutive weeks and a public hearing shall have been held not less than three weeks after the notice's first appearance, at which all interested persons shall have been allowed an opportunity to give testimony. A roll-back of hours may be ordered by the licensing commission pursuant to Chapter 138, Section 2 of the General Laws.
The highlighted language above raises procedural concerns for the Licensing Commission and its timeline for newspaper ads and the Licensing Commission’s monthly meeting dates.
The Licensing Commission policy is to advertise in the newspaper for two weeks before the hearing date. If the ordinance requires that a hearing not be held until three weeks after the first notice publication, the meeting date will have passed. This requirement impacts the deadline by which an application may be filed with the Licensing Commission in order to meet the newspaper ad submittal date, and subsequent publication date of the newspaper for three weeks before the hearing date. The goal is to make it easier for business to get licenses in a timely manner.
The Licensing Commission respectfully requests that Ordinance 2-219(a) be amended to delete the words “three weeks” and to insert in place thereof the words “ten days”.
Thank you.
Jenneen Pagliaro
Executive Secretary
Somerville Licensing Commission