Adams Wants to Increase Available Liquor Licenses
ADAMS, Mass. — Officials will ask town meeting for authority to solicit the state to increase the number of on-premise liquor licenses.
"I will frame this up; this is the last call for alcohol," Town Administrator Jay Green told the Selectmen at a workshop meeting on May 12.
The town has discussed increasing the number of licenses before. Specifically, it came up in 2017, but even with all the selectmen in support, it never came to be.
Currently, there are only two open licenses available. Green said available licenses are an important economic development tool to attract new restaurants, cafes, and other like businesses.
"I think from an economic development standpoint we need to have a few in our pocket," he said.
And with some growing interest in the town, Green said he wanted to be ready for possible incoming businesses that want to invest in downtown Adams.
"COVID-19 has been a double-edged sword for us and one of the positives for Adams has been a resurgence of interest in the downtown area," he said. "We want to be proactive and demand right now outstrips supply."
Green added that he would like a license available for the to-be-built outdoor center at the Greylock Glen.
Also, there are potential businesses willing to move in. Green couldn't name names but said he recently had two inquiries.
"They are very early inquiries, but they called and wanted to know if we had any licenses available," he said. "So we have to plan for that."
If town meeting approves a warrant article, the change would then have to be approved at the state level. Green said the state could lower the number of licenses that the town has requested.
Green thought a request for eight additional licenses was reasonable.
The Selectmen also had a protracted conversation with Tighe & Bond about future potential wastewater treatment plant capital improvement projects and enterprise fund projects.
The projects would most definitely affect rates and Green noted that a solid public outreach campaign would have to take place before anything is sent to town meeting.
Because of this, he said any warrant article would have to wait for a future special town meeting.
