Liquor license policy needs another round of review

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 3 | October 13 - 19, 2006

By Albert Amateau

Drafting a policy on liquor license saturation in Chelsea proved to be more than Community Board 4 could handle at its monthly meeting last week.

The issue has been a hot one for the board, whose district includes West Chelsea where more than 20 clubs and lounges with a total capacity of more that 10,000 patrons are clustered in the manufacturing district between 10th and 11th Aves. The district is a magnet for revelers and a nightmare for residents.

Community Board 4 on Oct. 4 decided that a version of a policy statement drafted by its Executive Committee on Sept. 25 and amended at the end of the month needed more work and sent it back to committee for another try in November.

The rejected policy statement called on the community board to recommend that the State Liquor Authority deny new liquor license applications in areas the board deems saturated. An area would be considered saturated if total licensed capacity, including any licenses applied for but not yet approved, exceeds 2,500 patrons per block or if average capacity exceeds that number in any contiguous multiblock area. An alternative saturation criteria suggested was the existence of four or more licensed premises within a 500-foot radius.

Richard Marans and other neighborhood residents told the full board that a capacity average of 2,500 patrons per block was far too many, and urged a far more restrictive policy.

But the State Liquor Authority on Sept. 6 declared its own moratorium on new licenses for bars and clubs within 500 feet of three other licensed premises — except for bona fide restaurants. The moratorium will last until the end of this year.

The rejected community board policy statement and the S.L.A. moratorium both exclude restaurants from the ban on new licenses. Restaurants are defined as establishments that serve meals to patrons who pay for food and have “suitable kitchen facilities” with a chef and an adequate staff. The restaurant definition says that places that serve only sandwiches and salads do not qualify.

As of Fri., Oct. 6, there were 115 new liquor license applications for Manhattan premises within 500 feet of three others and consequently on hold as a result of the S.L.A. moratorium. But only 28 were definitely bars subject to the moratorium and the remaining 87 claimed to be restaurants and the S.L.A. was considering excluding them from the moratorium.

However, Village, East Village and Chelsea neighborhood groups have long been faced with applications that purport to be “white tablecloth restaurants” and turn out to be bars or clubs without even rudimentary food service.