It looks like more booze is on the way to the City of Boston.
Mayor Marty Walsh's office announced today a proposal in conjunction with City Councilor Ayanna Pressley that would add 152 non-transferable liquor licenses to the City of Boston as part of "an ongoing effort to attract new businesses and restaurants, encourage expansion of current establishments, and support Boston's growing economy." The licenses would be phased in across a three-year period.
"I am proud of this proposal that will give our small businesses in every corner of our city a better opportunity to grow and thrive," said Mayor Walsh. "This balanced approach to licensing ensures neighborhoods historically disadvantaged by the liquor license process will receive their fair share of licenses, while also providing an option for larger establishments to receive licenses without hurting our small businesses. I look forward to working with the Boston City Council and Massachusetts Legislature to advance this important piece of legislation."
The proposal would bring the following to Boston from 2017 to 2019:
Ten citywide (seven all-alcohol licenses and three malt & wine) licenses a year, with no more than three a year able to go to the neighborhoods of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and the North End each (30 total);
Five licenses (three all-alcohol and two malt & wine) a year, 15 per neighborhood over three years, for each of the following neighborhoods: Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill and Roxbury (105 total);
Five licenses (three all-alcohol and two malt & wine) a year for Main Streets Districts (15 total);
One all-alcohol license for the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.
Creation of "umbrella licenses" for development projects larger than 500,000 sq. ft. in the City of Boston, under which each individual operator may apply for a license to the Boston Licensing Board without impacting the City's current liquor license cap.
Additionally, the Lawn on D would get one all-alcohol license – a plan that's been in the works for some time and made headlines this past January. "We need to encourage more unique public venues like this and make it feasible for them to bring people together year-round without having to apply for one-day alcohol licenses time after time," City Council President Michelle Wu told me at the time.
Wu is also spearheading a push to lift the ban on BYOB in Boston, specifically targeting many of the same neighborhoods Walsh and Pressley are focusing on here. It's all part of a much-needed liquor license reform, said Wu. "Because of the density of existing liquor license holders in the downtown neighborhoods and because the primary goal is to help revitalize neighborhoods, we are looking to focus on areas outside downtown," Wu told me in an interview.
Boston was granted approval for 25 new liquor licenses per year in 2014; 80 percent were geographically-restricted while the remaining could be sold on the open market. This new proposal stipulates all new licenses be non-transferable.
"This is the next natural step in our push to reduce disparities in neighborhood sit-down restaurants across the city," said Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley. "I am happy to collaborate with Mayor Walsh to craft legislation that supports our neighborhoods in growing at their own speed and continues to support the development of restaurant clusters in our business districts that will be economic and social anchors."