Board of License Commissioners Aug 20, 2026

All right. >> Um, pursuant uh welcome to the board of licensed commissioners for a meeting August 20th, 2026. Pursuant to chapter 2 of the acts of 2025, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting remotely may do so do so by um by Zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the meeting can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. And with that done, we'll do a call to order. Um, take a roll call of attendance. Kurt >> here, >> Amanda >> here. >> Callie >> here. >> I am here and we are missing George. So, we are four present and one absent. And um, next up is public comment. If anyone is here for public comment, general public comment related to anything on the agenda, please indicate um that you'd like to speak by hitting the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen. Anyone? No. Okay. Um All right. So, number one, new liquor license applications, University Drive LLC doing business as little patronis. So Steve, is this are they coming before us today for the license application? >> Yes, they have a liquor license application and a common Vixers license application before you. We are still waiting on the police chief's sign off for the liquor license. Um, understandable given the the large number of um people involved with that. Um, but it could be approved contingent on his sign off. >> Did we get the whole thing? Did anyone see this? Oh, did we is this maybe >> I did have um I did send out the packet this week. There was some it was a large packet, so there was some trouble. Um I did get kicked back from a couple people's emails, but if you click on the link and the agenda for the meeting materials, you can find it there, too. >> Cuz I I did that. I've only I'm missing pages like I've got pages 1, two, three, and then four, five, six, seven, eight, nine missing. Let me take a look. >> Did anyone else have that problem? >> Well, it stopped having page numbers for me past a certain point. So, it's possible that uh it, you know, may maybe uh Steve's redaction removed pages. >> There should be 66 pages within the PDF. >> Okay, >> that's what I've got. >> Let me see. Oh, there it is. redacted. Yep, I've got 66. But I don't have um Did everybody else get the whole thing? >> I think I did. >> Callie and Amanda, did you get everything? >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Yes. >> Okay. So, um Steve, could you do me a favor? Would you be able to share your screen and show the just the site plan? >> Absolutely. Just one second. Let me pull that up. >> And they have the lease and everything. And so we're going to open the hearing in a minute. And everyone else has had a chance to look through it >> at least briefly, honestly. >> Yeah. Same. >> University Drive. Oh, so this is going into um where Savannah's was, right? >> Yeah. Yes. All right. So Oh, great. Thank you so much. Perfect. All right. So, let's open the hearing. Um, is there a motion to open the hearing for uh this new liquor license application? >> Motion to open the hearing. >> Thank you, Amanda. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Oh, thanks, Hie. Um, all in favor, raise your hands. Say I >> I >> I. >> So that is now open. And um All right. So Mr. Ye, are you here? >> I am. Yes. >> Great. So would you like to introduce uh this to us? >> Yeah, absolutely. So um the project at uh Ford University Drive um is going to be named Little Patronis. Uh fun little fact about that, it's named after my grandfather's old um racehorse. Um, so we we currently operate uh two restaurants already in Ammeris, both Johnny's Tavern and Sushi. >> Um, so Little Patronis is going to be uh our take on Neapolitan pizza and uh Italian-American classics. Um, so we are very focused on um being accessible for everyone in the community and uh we're going to have a full craft cocktail list uh beer, wine um and we're very excited for it. Fantastic. Good to hear. Um, >> Madam Chair, let me let me just hop in. So, Tom Rey, uh, with Turning with Pick and Wilson here with Nate, uh, on behalf of University Drive LLC and Little Patroni. So, I just want to give a little bit of background about the property as you had noted. It is the old Savanas and then subsequently the public house, right? And so I think the hope is third times the charm uh with the ye family who has obviously had a lot of success through a lot of hard work and diligence and good uh management practices not only in Amoris but in the valley generally. So you know I know Barry is very excited about having the E family um undertake this endeavor. Um there's going to be some interior work. I think you've got a copy of the floor plan. The building footprint is not changing. Uh we have been through. So there you go. Thanks, Steve. So uh the building footprint isn't changing. We're really just changing like the the internal flow bar is going to be >> etc. So uh we've been through conservation commission to get approval for a modification to the parking lot. We've got the administrative approval from Rob Moira for the use. We've been through the ZBA to extinguish the old special permit. So, you know, we we have been through it. It has been reviewed by the town. Uh you're our last stop obviously before ABC and I think as Nate said, uh very excited to get this going and obviously with a really experienced operator, especially an experienced operator in town and then obviously Johnny's Roadside Diner just down the street uh in Hadley. They know what the what the market is. They understand the the student base. they understand, you know, what it takes to make sure that they're operating in compliance with the with the liquor laws. So, I think it's it's a win for the town to have the Ye expand onto University Drive. >> Okay. Thank you so much. So, just a quick question. This is um this is part of the Bean Restaurant Group as the others are. Is that going to be part of the larger or is this being the LLC look different? Is there something about this the structure? I don't >> I'll speak if you don't if you don't mind. I think what they do is they have uh essentially it is Bean Restaurant Group operating the LLC itself though because that comes down to ownership. Uh each of the restaurants is different just because there's >> varying percentages of uh different family interests if you will. >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you. >> Um thank you so much for that. Are there any questions from the commissioners? >> No. No. >> No. Um, let's see, Kurt. >> Uh, no. Gi, given their experience and and history with the community. No. >> Yeah. No. I I mean, we're certainly glad to see the building back in use for sure. So, and Steve, you said there was just one thing. >> So, we are still waiting on the police chief's sign off. Um, that's that's the only thing I'm missing. So, it would be contingent on the police chief's approval. >> Thank you. >> Great. So, if are there no other questions from the commissioners, is there a motion to close the hearing? >> Sure. >> Thank you, Kurt. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Amanda. So, I'm going to take a roll call because everyone's just popped up to the top of my screen. Kurt, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> Allie, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That is four to zero with one absent. And the hearing is now closed. Any more conversation among the commissioners? And if not, is there a motion to approve the liquor license for Little Patronis? >> Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Amanda. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Kurt. Um, we'll take a vote. Amanda, >> yes. >> Hi. >> Yes. >> Kurt, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That is four to zero with one absent. The license is approved. Thank you so much for coming in. Best of luck with your new venture. >> Thank you so much, everyone. Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. Make some good pizza, please. We will. We plan on it. [laughter] >> Uh Steve, do you need anything from us from the common for the common Vic or are you good there and you'll just run it through the commission? >> Um I I leave that to the commission, but that's our next next step on our agenda. >> We can I can hang around. >> Oh, the common bitch's license, right? Um okay. So, this is just for the this is required by state law. Um, and there are no questions about this. Do you want to quickly approve? We probably could have done these at the same time. Is there a motion to approve the common vict? [laughter] >> Sure. >> And um if there are no questions, we'll take a vote. Amanda, >> yes. >> Kurt, >> yes. >> Callie, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That is four to zero with one absent and the common Vic is approved. Thank you so much. >> Thanks again. Appreciate your >> Bye. >> Okay. So, and then Steve, that is I think I forgot to say it when I called the But that is contingent on the police approval, right? >> Um that is not usually a um >> I mean for the liquor license. >> For the liquor license. Yes, I believe I did hear that. >> You you said you said it license. >> Okay, good. All right. Great. So that was that and now we move on to our special shortterm license. Um John Paige Emmer Business improvement district all alcohol license for um 6th annual bantoberfest on the common. >> Is John Mr. Paige here? >> I am. Can you all hear me? >> How are you? Yes. >> Good. How are you? >> Good. Good to hear you again. Um would you like to just give us a rundown of this event? >> Yes. So this is a annual tradition um starting during the pandemic as an opportunity for the UMass Wind Ensemble um to present a concert to the community u but outdoors and utilizing our beautiful common and that evolved into a partnership with the bid having this community concert and adding the element of selling beer, wine and cider for I believe five years now. So the first one was without um and this will be our sixth year. It's September 27th. We use the same model that we use summer concerts um as well as the film that we just completed this summer. Uh we haven't had any management challenges. The only thing we are conscious of for this concert is that it is school year. So there is a larger portion of our population under 21. So we take note of that um for this concert but all management of the event remains the same. >> Fantastic. And remind me how are you carding? Are you do you use bracelets or stamps or >> We use bracelets for this event. So we use bracelets for those that are 21 plus and have been validated. >> And I think that's in your It's a picture. >> It's in the P. Yeah. >> Okay. >> And hopefully in the in the management plan as well, we wristband those 21 >> transferable wristbands, right? Tip certified elol with wristbands refuse service to anyone who comes intoxicate. Okay, great. That looks good. Any questions about this one? No. Um, is there a motion to approve SST-26-39? Approve. I will give that Kurt. Thank you for the motion. And who did the second? Was that Amanda? >> Oh, that was me. >> That was you. Sorry, H gets the second. Um, if there's no further discussion, we'll take a vote. Amanda, >> yes. >> Oh, yes. >> Sorry. >> Kurt, >> yes. >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. That is four to zero with one absent. Um, the short-term license is approved. Thank you so much for coming in. Good luck again. >> Thank you. >> Yes. All right. And approval of minutes. >> No minutes ready for this meeting. >> Okay, that's fine. Um, topics not anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance of this meeting. I do not have any topics. Steve, are there any unanticipated topics? I will just um note um and apologies for that uh um packet curve fluff um for I don't know what it is but for some reason when I redact uh documents something that could start out as 5 megabytes will be like 20 plus after redactions I don't really know why that happens and there doesn't seem to be much I could do to reduce them um but uh and there was quite a lot of redactions in this one so I'd probably add it up but um so with the standardization of the agendas I had mentioned at the last meeting. Um we will also be trying to include uh put the packet materials online which has been something the um license commission's done before. So you will be able to see them at that link. And um I do think that'll offer us some more flexibility when it's those really big packets because this is certainly not the first time uh half your emails have kicked them back or half downloaded them or whatever is going on. So >> okay, >> another option. >> Okay. So now Steve, your sorry Steve, your zip software really should have a compression off uh option of some kind, but whatever. Putting it online will take care of it. >> I could zip it up, too. That is I didn't think that. That is another option. I try to try to avoid you guys a hassle, but um we'll see. Adobe has some built-in reduced file size, but it doesn't do much with these redactions. Okay. So, in the future we can all click on the Zoom link. I mean, not the packet material link. Um, that's great. Um, super. So, no other unanticipated topics and our next meeting is two weeks September >> September 3rd. >> September 3rd, 5:30 in person. So, looking forward to seeing you all there. Um, I guess we're at adjournment. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Sorry, >> is there a second? >> Trying to look at my count. A second. >> Thank you, Amanda. Um, all right. We'll take a vote. Kurt, >> yes. >> Allie, >> yes. >> Amanda, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That is four to zero with one absent. We are adjourned at 5:47 p.m. Thanks everybody and see you again soon on the 3. >> Thank you. Thank you all very much. Enjoy the rest of your summer. >> You, too. Bye.