 Hold on, Steve. Hi, Brian. Hi, Brian. Hi, Brian. Hi, everyone. Hey. So let me read. Yes. Let me get my preamble and long. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so in the following manner by emailing Steve McCarthy at McCarthy s at mrstma.gov. That's M C C A R T H Y S at mrstma.gov. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, we will post on the Amherst website and audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. So with that done, we'll call the meeting to order at 503 p.m. and take a roll call of attendance Gaston here, Kelly here, Doug here, Dylan here, and I'm here. All right. Welcome everybody. And we have, I want to talk about the agenda for a little bit. So we have our new annual off premises, all alcohol liquor license applications to which would be available. And then two to take over the vacant license would be change of premises. That's correct, Steve. Yes. Yes. Okay. And then we also have a special short term under C liquor license application. Mr. Riley, we were asking that if, if the short term applicant is here, if the time notice time is locked in or if we can run through that short term liquor license first. Yeah, you have, you know, you're not going to be able to do that. I mean, I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm just going to be able to do that for half an hour, you know, to do that, which I wouldn't guess. You might want to sort of open the other hearings and then adjourn, but, but if it's, I expect it'll be, you know, five or 10 minutes. So I think that's fine to take it out of order to take it out of order. Okay. So, but first, what I'd like to do is we'll move to item two, which is public comment. And I'm asking if there's anyone here for public comment. And this is anything, including. So is anyone here for that kind of general public comment? If so, raise your hand. And again, it's not related to any of the license hearings that we're addressing in the agenda. Nope. Okay. Great. So let's do, if we can do the special short term liquor license application, SST dash 23 dash 16. Love Ben Ezra survival senders ink. April 1st, 2023 at 12pm to 4pm, 138 Sunderland road. Is that Mr. Garen for this application? Yeah, speaking. Okay. Could you introduce, could you give us a rundown of your application please? Sure. So I'm planning for short term liquor license on behalf of the Amherst survival center. We are hosting a large recurrent annual fundraiser called empty bowls, which has prior to this year been held at the in on boltwood. However, this year is being held at ASC property. So in a effort to make the event and our fundraising more robust, we decided to open a cash bar to go along with this lunch, luncheon event. So that's the application. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. Has everyone had a chance to look it over? And are there any questions from Mr. Garen or comments. About it. Or no, no discussion. Is there a motion to approve the license? No move. Thank you, Doug. Is there a second? Thank you. Dylan. Any further discussion? If there is none, we'll take a vote. Yes. Gaston. Hi. Hallie. Hi. Doug. Hi. Dylan. Hi. And I vote I that is five to zero. The license has been approved. Thank you so much for coming in. And best of luck with your event. Thank you. Good night. You too. Bye. Okay. So let's move back. To our licenses for the. All premises. All alcohol liquor license applications. So. What I'd like to do. And just before I'm going to back up a little bit. And we did converse at another meeting with Mr. Riley about the process by which. This liquor liquor license decision would be made. And then we clarified it at our last meeting, but. Mr. Riley, would you please introduce the process for us? And maybe give a little presentation of what we're going to be doing this evening. Sure. Sure. Happy to do that. So you. As, as I saw in the newspaper article, really. Typically you only get, you know, one application at a time if somebody has one and they decide they can't use it anymore. They will, you know, either, either sell it or find somebody that they would like to try to transfer it to. And so you only get the one application. Just the way it happened here. You had an opportunity to kind of advertise it and see what kind of feedback you get. That is a valid, perfectly valid way to do it. Several of our clients have done that. I've had. Hearing at the ABCC and they've said this is a perfectly fun way to do it. As long as everybody gets. An adequate hearing and the board makes a. You know, reasonable decision of who to give it to that, that there's nothing wrong with it. So I. As you've got scheduled, I think the most appropriate way to do it is to handle these four applications one at a time. You can, you know, get the presentation or, or, you know, discourse from the applicants. The commissioners can ask questions of them. And, you know, as you, you've done these hearings before. And so you want to get a chance to get all the information that you feel you need and that they're offering. And I talked with Steve a little while ago. You know, one option would be to then close the public hearing on application one and move on to number two. I'd say that you could also, if you prefer sort of. You know, decide you've heard enough from number one, open up number two without closing. And that way just in case there's any follow up after you get through the last one. You'd still be able to ask question, you know, go back and ask questions of the other one. It's, you know, that's your call really. But at some point today, tonight. The, you know, you, you should. You've gotten all the information that you need to from these applicants. And close the hearings. And at that point. That it's to the commission, just to deliberate amongst yourselves. And see if you, you know, talk about them. Talk about what you. What or where you would like to see this, you know, license get. Exercise. And, you know, you may sort of. Feel your movement towards consensus from somebody might want to make a motion. I would add that. Some boards when they have a sort of more complicated than normal. Application process like this. You could also, you know, get through the hearings and close them and decide you want to, you know, if everyone wants to think about it and reread them and come back at your next meeting and do it. There's nothing wrong with that either. I would recommend that you finish the public hearing part of it. You know, getting everything you want from the applicants. So then the next time. It's just you discussing amongst yourselves. I'm not, you know, I'm not pushing that as a way to do it, but I think either way, making the decision tonight or wanting to give it some more thought yourselves. Either one is fine. But, you know, at some point. When you're, you're talking, so you've got four applicants. And let's just say everything's in order. They seem good. You know, it seems like they're all known around, around town. The, the board needs to, the commission needs to decide, you know, who to approve this license to. And so if, if someone eventually does make a motion to approve it to applicant X. And that, and that is approved. As you, you may know when the, when the commission approves an alcohol license, you don't need to have a list of reasons. You approved it based on, you know, everything you heard. And then, but then what you would need to do is go back. And vote on each of the other three. But the, the only reason that you'd need to deny those is that there's no license available. Obviously there's no longer a license available. Typically if you get an application and you deny it, I don't know how often this happens, but you deny it because there's, you know, traffic concerns or whatever it might be. You need to have a list of reasons that goes into the decision. They can appeal that to the ABCC. But if there's no license available, that's, that's the only reason that needs to be, you know, the, I know I've talked about this with Steve, and I think you've seen things from me as well. That the, when the ABCC does look at these decisions on appeal, they typically will start off at least by saying, well, did the, did the commission consider these so-called ballerin factors, which is from about a 20 year old appeals court case. And the appeals court listed the kinds of things that are a licensing authority are appropriate to look at. And these include, you know, is there a public need for this license at this location? Is this an appropriate place for a liquor license? I know at least with three out of the four, you've already either currently or have had a license to there. So that perhaps is not a big one. Looking at the number of existing license, in the area, you know, if, if, if there's already a few off premises licenses in the area, then, you know, perhaps some place where there isn't, maybe that serves the public need better. That's something that commission can talk about. You know, the size of the operation is it, is this going to be a big store or small store? Is it just going to be. An off premises store and almost nothing else, or is it a kind of a multipurpose? I'm not sure what these other two applicants look like, but if they're convenient store or a little market or something, that's obviously different from a, a store that's nothing but alcohol. And well, similarly, the sort of operation that carries the license, that's a quote from the, from the court. Same point really, you know, what's, what's the nature of this business? Going to be, and, you know, does the commission support that? Let's see. Steve sent me things that came in this afternoon. I didn't really have a time to digest them all. But, but I believe he said that, that one applicant was sort of, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, he said that one applicant was sort of hoping that the commission would adopt a statement of reasons that they have submitted. As I just, you know, talked about, I don't really think that's necessary. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. As I say, at some point when you're done, you're going to have approved the license for one applicant and you don't need a list of reasons. And for the other ones, the only reason is going to be there's no license to give them anymore. You know, there's none available. That's, so that's really all you need as far as reasons in my opinion. I think that's about it. And unless Steve, you think I'm forgetting something I was going to mention. Yeah, Brian, I was wondering if you could just kind of go over the content, you know, the way the form the discussions should take place and other with some conversation and the board earlier, maybe in response to one of your far earlier emails that maybe they would just kind of, I'll try to say one positive thing about each applicant. Maybe you can just talk about, you know, what the deliberation should consider how in depth they could be things like that. Okay. Well, I mean, you don't. You don't need to say a positive thing about each one, although you may, you may want to, you may listen to all four and think they're all perfectly good applicants. But yeah, as I say, I think. At least deliberations that I've seen or part of, you know, kind of been on the sidelines for boards on this sort of thing is, you know, again, you may, somebody may say, you know, well, I, I like the fact that this one is on this side of town. I think the other side of town is, you know, perfectly well served already. And, you know, see what other people think. And just, if you, you know, you may, you know, you may sort of feel a consensus coming that maybe, maybe one applicant has a few more, you know, things, things in their favor than the others. And that may, you know, that may kind of steer you towards a vote. I wouldn't say that you're required to, you know, have, well, we have four good things about this one. And we only had two good things about those. So, so on we go. Oh, I do recall one other thing, Steve, because you had asked me a few weeks back about what city of Northampton was doing with this lottery. I had never heard of that before. I suppose that there's nothing wrong with it. So I think that was, you know, although the only, my, my only reservation on that was, you know, the, the ABCC, if they're presented with an appeal would look to see, well, did the board have a good reason for approving, you know, this applicant over the other, or was it sort of an arbitrary decision? And obviously drawing a name out of a hat sort of strikes me initially as, as kind of arbitrary. And so I think that's, you know, I think it's a good idea to sort of hear everybody. And then, and then, you know, deliberate amongst yourselves and see if, if maybe there's a, you know, kind of a sense that one. One perhaps is more favorite than the others. And then, you know, at that point. Might be ready for a motion. All right. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. I mean, for Mr. Riley. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Guest on. Did you have one? You're, you're, you're muted. Yeah. Guess on your muted. Sorry. Sorry. I guess a question for us is whether we like the approach of having one big hearing. That allows us to go back and ask a prior presenter questions. I guess I, I don't see the downside with that approach. Yeah. Is that fine? Yeah. Okay. We just open the hearing, go on to the next one, leave the first one open until we have them open so we can move back and forth instead of opening and closing them one after the other. You could even, I think after the number four, you could even sort of have one motion to close all four public hearings. Okay. Is there anything wrong with doing that either? All right. That's sound good to everybody. Okay. Great. So that's what we'll do. We'll open the first one. We'll open the second one. Are there any other questions? For Mr. Riley. Nope. Okay. Here we go. All right. So let's start with Iowa. Is there a motion to open the hearing for the new annual off premises all alcohol liquor license application from NP Amherst LLC doing business as NP Amherst. 171 university drive manager. Is there a second? Thank you. Dylan. Let's take a vote. Gaston. Hi. Kelly. Hi. Doug. Hi. Dylan. Hi. And I vote by five to zero. The hearing is now open. Okay. So we're looking for. The people who are going to do the presentation on this. This application. Tom, are you here for the applicant? Is there anybody else you'd like to bring on board, Tom? Yeah, Barry Patel, please. And Mr. Patel is here. Welcome. Thank you so much for coming tonight. Thanks for having us. Thanks. So if you are the two of you going to introduce the application. Yeah, yeah. I'd be more than happy to. And so just for the record, it's. 181 university drive. I think you might have mentioned 171 university. Yeah. It's 170 one of the agenda. It's 181. Okay. Thanks. It's 181. Yes. Scrivener's error with the agenda there. Okay. So for the record, Tom Reedy attorney with Bacon Wilson. Out of Amherst here on behalf of NP Amherst LLC. And it's application for. An off premises, all alcohol liquor license for the space. One of the spaces at 181 university drive. With me this evening is a sole member and the proposed manager. Of the liquor. Operator Barry Patel. I think I'll talk first about the site. In case you're not familiar with it. I'll talk a little bit about Barry and then I'll talk a little bit. About the location. Especially compared to the other three applicants that you have in front of you. So. And one other note, one of the things that we had provided was just a supporting narrative. Kind of identifying what we would suggest are the reasons why we think this application is. Probably a better fit. And maybe superior to those other applications. And we also included a map. With a, with a legend and some identifiers of the existing. Off premises, liquor licenses. And then each of the proposed liquor license locations. And I'll get to that. Maybe towards the end of the overall presentation. So. First. The site it's in, excuse me, the big Y Plaza. 181 university drive. The proposals for 2400 square feet within that Plaza. It is only going to be a liquor store. So unlike a couple of the other applicants, not a food market, not a convenience store. It is just a liquor store. The other uses in that plaza is you're probably familiar. You've got. You've got a restaurant. I think there's another restaurant. Maybe a Papa John's coming. There's a nail salon. You've got CVS in the Plaza, Dunkin Donuts in the Plaza. The Plaza has sufficient parking. Those are higher volume uses. There's sufficient parking sufficient turnover of the parking spaces. And there's a signalized intersection. To allow vehicles to enter the parking space. And there's a signalized intersection to allow vehicles to enter and exit that plaza. And also it's a pretty proximate to root nine. We've entered into a lease or, you know, NPM versus enter into a lease with the landowner. It's up to 20 years. And it provides for signage and parking and appropriate storage, et cetera. And it's for that 2400 square feet. And it's for that 2400 square feet. And it's for that 2400 square feet. And it's for that 2400 square feet. And it's for that 2400 square feet. Barry Patel, who's the proposed manager, Barry, 62 years old. He lives in Long Meadow. He's, he's operated liquor license. He's operated liquor stores before he's had liquor licenses. Previously without violation, any of them previously in Springfield. And also Bristol Connecticut. And he's a part owner of a license of enough premises. Package store in Palmer. He's a senior manager. We've already talked. He's going to have an ID scanner. At the property. He. He's a well aware of. Amherst of the potential client base that he'll have there, especially with a location on university drive. He understands that there may be college students coming in, potentially underage folks. And so, you know, that's one of the reasons why I think his experience and certainly having the ID scanner is a, is a, is a great benefit. And then really, I just want to talk about the location as it relates to some of the other applicants that you have. And so if you, if you take a look at the map that was provided, I think it gives you a good visual of, you know, in red, you've got where the existing licenses are. You have one really in South Amherst. And that one, you know, RNP Lakers is kind of on an island unto its own. And then as you start to move north, there are some more concentrated in the center of town. And then some concentrated in, in North Amherst. You look at North Amherst, you've got three already. You've got big guys, what troubles and now provisions. And so those are pretty close together. And I know Cushman market is looking for one. You've got a lot of people in the general area. When you get to the center of town, you've got Russell's package store and I know that Amherst markets looking for one somewhat proximate to, to that location. And then you go to the, the two towards the West on university drive where six university drive and this 181 university drive are located. I think by the, the commission's previous findings, they found and thought that university drive wasn't appropriate for that store because there was a need there. They obviously had previously granted one to six university drive. However, that's the license that these four applicants are trying to get because for whatever reason, it might be the types of complimentary uses, you know, there's a bank there, there's professional offices there, lower volume uses, you know, UPS store. It may be potentially that's the reason why that site is being sold. And so we would suggest that when you, you know, take everything into consideration, those ballerin factors, including public need. And we think that, you know, there's already been a public need identified in, I'll call it West Amherst by the Hadley line. This site is going to be superior to six university drive and then also to the other two that have been proposed because of its offerings, just as a liquor store, it has a size as 2400 square feet and its location. Plus we've got an experienced operator seeking to operate at this location. So that's overview. I think, you know, you've got the application packet. We believe it to be complete. We've provided to Mr. McCarthy, the green cards and confirmation of sending all of the notices out. And so we think you've got an approval license in front of you and we're happy to answer any questions that you have about Mr. Patel, the site, its operations, et cetera. Thank you very much, Mr. Steep is all the paperwork in on this application. Yes, just to piggyback off of that, I did receive all applications are complete. I have received notices of service either at the affidavits of service or green cards from all applicants and the police chief did sign off on all the applications. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any current questions? Do you want to do this right now? For Mr. about this application? Or do you want to open the next one? I'm comfortable opening the next one. Yep. Anybody else? Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Okay. So now we're going to open the hearing. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Thank you for. Milka associates, LLP doing business as country crossroads, six university drive manager. Ashka tell. Is there a motion to open the hearing? Thank you, Doug. Doug, you're muted. Is there a second? Thank you, Dylan. Let's take a boat guest on. Hi. Halle. Hi. Doug. Hi. And I vote I five to zero. The hearing is now open and I see Mr. Evans. Are you going to be doing the presentation for this? Yes, I am. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. I would like to share a screen if I could, please. Can you do that, Steve? Yes, Mr. Evans, you should be able to. You might have just had a little interruption there to rejoin, but you should be able to share your screen now. Is that going to work? You are muted now. It may have switched back when I did that transition. Okay. It would be at the bottom of the screen there in green. Ah, yes. Ah, yes. Thank you. Should you be seeing me? I'm your camera appears to be off right now. So I'm up to you. If you'd like to turn it on or leave it off, but we do not right now. I would like to turn it on, but it doesn't seem to want to let me. But let's see. Can you see my screen? We're not seeing your screen either or maybe a try now. I may have just had to change one more setting. Yeah, try it again. You just popped up as co-host. Okay. Good. Good. Good. There's me. And here's my screen. There we go. We got the screen. Okay. You've got the public hearing Amherst board. Yep. Okay. Good. Thank you very much. Well, I'm Dick Evans. I'm a lawyer in North Hampton. And I'm pleased to represent the nil cons associates Inc. Who have applied for the, this license and they will be. Applying for six university drive. The new market center. It's a familiar space, six university drive there. And you can see where the, the liquor store used to be. And we'll be going into that space. Let me introduce a nil can associates briefly, if I may. It's been around since 2005. It was formed by created by Prof. Patel. Who operated the South Amherst liquor. Mark from for 12 years. And. And during those 12 years, he had no, no violations whatsoever. He acquired a country crossroads in 2005. And here's a picture of country crossroads. It's on federal street in Belcher town. And has a, it's registered with the secretary of state in a good standing. You can say that he's filed as 2020. 23 year annual report. And he's, he's had no alcohol violations for the entire 18 years. That they've operated there. And that's confirmed by a letter from the Belcher town police. Chief. He's a lawyer. Who says he has no reason to believe that no comp is not a suitable candidate for a package store in Amherst. He's on good credit terms with all his distributors. And we've got letters from two of them. Martin Eddie. As well as. Craft Massachusetts, two of their distributors. Who have spoken favorably. These letters are kind of hard to read. So this is what they say. They say they have no problems doing business with them. They pay their bills. Their credit is excellent. And they, they support. This proposal, this application. And look forward to doing business with them in Amherst. So, in addition to all those things. Nilcath understand and employees responsible business practices. That's one of the key of their piece to their success in Belcher town. And I'd like to explain. Describe at least what, what we consider or what my clients consider responsible business practices to be. So I know this is very important to Amherst. Obviously they authenticate the IDs of anybody appearing under 30. There's going to be signage at the counter. You know, you must be born before this date in order to buy something. They will be very alert to second party transactions. And here are some of the signs of second party. Party transactions, you know, when we see a young person watching an older one buying a beverage, money passing hands between two people. When a customer comes in with a list of things to buy and wanting separate receipts, well, that's a red flag that you've got to look very, very carefully. Or if a regular customer comes in and buys something that's very unusual, that's another red flag. Patrons are constantly scrutinized for signs of intoxication. These are familiar signs, which my clients are, are, are very familiar with, of course. And their, their employees are trained to watch for them closely. Maintaining a safe premise is an important thing. That means interior lighting is appropriate. The merchandise is not next to an exit. The countertops clear litter aisles to be free of debris and litter. As for staffing, all the staff will be thoroughly trained and responsible for sales, including the laws and regulations. All of our employees will be tips certified. The manager will be present during peak business hours. And obviously zero tolerance for any alcohol or drug use on the staff on site by staff or patrons. We're asking all our employees to acknowledge their understanding of their responsibilities and duties. In writing with regard to security. We locate the cash register where it's visible from outside. From the sidewalk at least grant free access to law enforcement officers, of course, at all times. Hopefully we locate the cashier so he has a full view of the store. Maintain a list of emergency numbers. Maintain fire extinguishers are ready to be used. And a central alarm system. And of course surveillance cameras. So those are the, the, the. Some or are a lot of the, the aspects of responsible business practices. Now let me introduce Oscar Patel. I would, I would give you a picture of him, but he's sitting behind me and I suppose you can't see him. But he was born in North Hampton, Elizabeth's family in Hadley. He's 29 years old. He graduated from Hopkins Academy in. Hadley in 2012. Graduated in 2017 from UMass with a bachelor of science in hospitality and tourism management. With a specialty in beverage management. And I would suggest that perhaps he's the only one of the four applicants who has a degree in, in beverage management. There is his diploma. He became a partner when he turned 21. He became a. A partner in the middle camp with his dad in 2019. And as I said before, he has checked certified and has been since 2016. Here's his certification card. Now as to the location, it's the new market center, which is very familiar. Has a variety of different stores. It has a fair amount of foot traffic. I would suggest perhaps as much as the other one. The floor plan has been submitted. It's fairly routine or fairly ordinary for, for, for businesses like this. Here's some photographs of the inside. It was as it was left by university workers when they moved out. There's ample space. And in fact, there's 23 to 4,000 square feet here. About three fourths of which will be available to the, or accessible to the public. About one fourth to the back room of the office and storage area. As for their product line, they will be offering a standard liquor store products. As well as local craft beer. And soda, candy chips, so forth. As well as lottery. Pretty routine there. They expect to be operating from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Oscar wheel site. Full time six days a week. And his dad profit will cover the seventh day. Now, let me, I'd like to turn to the criteria that the board will utilize in, in, in making your decision. First, we look at the, at the, at the statute. Section 23 of chapter 138, which says that the permits are enacted with a view to serving the public need in such a manner as to protect the public good. And as your council stated, the ballerina is the leading case in this field. And ballerina has said the test includes an assessment of public want. And the appropriateness of a liquor license at this location. And in making its determination. It's to consider the, these factors, as well as the, the, the, the, the, the traffic noise size. Sort of operation and the reputation of the applicant. Well, I don't think there are any issues here with regard to traffic or parking or noise. It's quite satisfactory as it is. And it's the same. We're suggesting we're proposing to install a liquor store where there's been one for a long time. So we're not really changing a whole lot. Now, what are Amherst needs and what is the public good? I've tried to identify them. There's several sources determine what, what Amherst needs and wants are one places to take a look at the master plan, which came out in 2020, I believe. Amherst wants to maintain its existing community character. Focus development. This is a development in the usual sense. We're building new buildings, but we are, we are occupying an already available space. The town is, has been quite outspoken in terms of, of environmental and energy practices and conservation of energy. In terms of economic development, the, the master plan, the goal, one of the goals of the master plan is to strengthen diversified and grow the employment opportunities and Amherst. We will be creating from five to eight new part-time jobs. And may even have an internship program if you work, preliminary discussions have been had. But if, if we are awarded the license, then Oscar expects to develop, or I wouldn't say expect. He hopes to in his and, and, and aspires to develop an internship program with you massage bird from which he graduated. And this will be with these are the many aspects of retail management that an intern will be learning. It's quite a bit to, to running a store like this, more than I ever imagined, frankly. In addition to employment opportunities, the town has declared that it's, it's promoting smart development. Well, again, this isn't development in the sense of new buildings, but I should submit to the board that the smartest development is to fill empty vacant spaces. For several reasons, what they're, they're really ugly. And here's the, there's the Google, Google Earthshot, Google street view rather of the, of the store. And this one's empty now. And it's got, you know, windows placarded with posters, which we're not going to do. And, and, you know, an empty, an empty storefront doesn't generate any foot traffic or have the businesses. So we will be doing that. Now, vacant storefront is our problem in Massachusetts, generally as well as in Northampton and Amherst. It's referred to as a scourge of sort of empty storefronts. And Massachusetts a couple of years ago developed a program to assist communities with dealing with vacant storefronts. So certainly it's the policy of Massachusetts to try to fill storefronts. And I think Amherst would go along with that. So what are Amherst needs? Going back to this question of trying to identify Amherst needs and the public good. There's another source. Amherst is a green community. It declares it. Very proud of declaring itself a green community. And Neil, no camp is a green company. We'll be using LED lighting within an automatic power saving mode after seven. There'll be energy efficient coolers due to a new compression system that we'll, we'll be installing the, the store vehicle be a hybrid vehicle. We will not be selling nips for several reasons. One of which is the reduction of litter and, you know, the cost of littering. And we don't want to see this everywhere. And we don't want to be part of this. We want to be part of the solution. And also. This is remarkable. And it's in their Belcher town store country crossroads. For the last three years, they've had a plastic recycling program where they invite their customers to return the, the plastic caps and, and ties and rings. And they've also brought back bags or four packs in this case. And here's the amazing thing that in three years. They've had 5,000 of these come back. The customers have brought 5,000 of these back. And have recycled them. This is what we want to prevent when, when by recycling. Getting back to the question of identifying Amherst needs in the public. I think it's a great opportunity for the community. And, and welcoming community for, for. Persons of all, all races and ethnicities. I think of the four applicants. Oscar. Oksher technically, but everybody calls him Oscar. He's the only one who is coming in from outside. The other three are already located. In Amherst. But most important. I think this is probably Amherst's most urgent need. And that is the problem with, with alcohol abuse. UMass, which we saw a couple of weeks ago. The so-called Barney Barney blowout. We took a look at this and discovered something remarkable. This is a chart from a BU school of public health. It just came out last year. This is a chart showing the entire population from age 12 to 20. Of those people, 76% did not drink. Of the remaining 24%. 63% report having been drunk. And if you look at the entire population of adults, 12, 12 teenagers and adults in Massachusetts. In the U.S., 41% don't drink at all, but of the 59% who do, 40% of them consider themselves Ben's drinking. So Ben's drinking is a serious problem. And NILCANTH wants to be part of the solution and not of the, not, not the problem. So in, for that reason, we expect to. We'll be using the ID science authentication terminal. It costs about $5,000 to fence the piece of equipment, but it's very reliable. You insert a, an ID card in this thing. And it will tell you if it's authentic or not. On those days when, when events like Barney blowout are expected to happen, we propose to delay opening the store. And as I said, we'll require all employees to be tips certified. And we're not expecting to do much out of store advertising or sponsoring events and things like that. And I want to add that my, my client, Oscar, and his dad, possible Oscars could be the principal manager of the store. He's willing to work with the town to help solve the serious problem that we've experienced recently. If you need somebody on a committee or something like that, you know, he's, he's only 29 years old. He went to UMass. He knows the scene there. He understands this. And I think he could be very, very helpful to the town and hoping to mitigate or, or combat the serious problem of alcohol abuse in town. Finally, I'll just conclude here. I think you will find a madam chairman, I think you know, Kat is deeply experienced. We're talking 11 years in South Amherst and 18 years in the Belcher town with no violations whatsoever. Oscar Patel is as highly qualified as any other could be a bachelor science degree in beverage management. He's got all the credentials. He's got an absolute spotless record. He's got a great location, a good location, a safe location. And a familiar location, I must say. And he understands what responsible business practices are and understands and hopes to help meet Amherst needs in that regard. And he's fully equipped to protect the public good with all of the measures I described here. And so getting back to the criteria. I think that's where we started a bit ago. It's the purpose of the licensees to serve the public need to protect the common good. And I believe that is exactly what we demonstrated that, that no can't is prepared and equipped to do. So I thank you very much for your attention. We welcome any questions you have. And that's a thank you in their native language, which is Gujarati Gujarati. So thank you. And we invite any questions you have. Thank you very much Mr. Evans. Are there any questions. At this moment. About this application. Anybody. One question. I wonder if you could tell us how to be honest, I never went to that store before closed, but for customers familiar with that store. When they walk into the store and your vision, what would they notice different. Different than the former store. Exactly. Oh, probably not a lot. Let me ask Dr. We plan to renovate it. We do plan to add hardwood floors and build custom racks. Wine racks. I've taken up. I've taken up and tree learned it on my own and I've. I've built a few racks at in Belcher town and we plan to do this, a similar thing here, build a nice customer act. And I will also design it with burning engraved vineyard on it. Adding a little detail, but this counter is going to be rearranged. We're going to move around some stuff so that the. That the store is more presentable and that the store is. Noticeably different that new management is. In this location. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions at this moment. For this application. Anyone. No, if not, thank you again, Mr. Evans. Why don't we go on to the next one. And this is now we're opening a hearing for a change of off-premises liquor license category application. Is there a motion to open the hearing for Simra LLC doing businesses Amherst market 259 triangle street manager. A thief. So moved. Thank you, Doug. Is there a second. Thank you, Dylan. We'll take a vote guest on. Hi. Doug. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. And I vote I five to zero. The hearing is now open. And is there someone here to do that presentation? You should now be able to talk. Is there anybody else you'd like to bring into a assist with the presentation? Yes. The manager. A thief. Is he also on. Yeah. He just added him. Mr. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Thank you for coming. All right. Mr. Baskerman, Mr. Tasnim. Welcome. Thank you so much for coming. So. Sorry. Mr. Tasnim. Are you able to speak? We're not. We haven't been able to hear you yet. Okay. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Thank you for coming. All right. So you can proceed with your presentation. Yes. My attorney. Yes. Let me start off and then. Mr. Tasnim fill in. At his comments. Good afternoon. My name is the attorney Gregory Baskham. And I represent. Ambrose market. And I'm here today with the. Manager of the market. In this district. I have an application for changing the area. My name is David Tasnim. The embress market has submitted an application for change of license category. From wine and malt to alcohol, which is still spirits. The market is located at. 259 triangle street. Within this district. There are homes. Both single family homes. offices. Traffic in this area is both by foot and vehicle. It is light to moderate, except for peak business hours and when there is events and occurrences in the town and at the university. I wanted to go through a couple of the review requirements by first explaining what operation of the store is. As I mentioned, the store is operating as a convenience store in Triangle Street just before the roundabout between Triangle and the Pleasant Streets. It is located at the north end of the town in the downtown business district. It is a mixed use area and the largest residential business combination district in the town. The market is staffed by a minimum of two sales clerks at each shift. The management stresses one of the things they stress here is to have a well-trained staff. I will get into that in a moment. As a convenience store, the market carries eggs, milk, bacon and various juices and drinks. Traditional convenience stores. There is a hard bar for hard beverages and microwave food. There are sandwiches and a variety of lunch foods and the shelves start with canned and snack food, pet food and mini household products. The market also carries an assortment of specialty foods, Indian food as well as wine and malt. Two, the number of existing off-premises liquor license. Amherst Market currently holds the only off-premises wine and malt license in the downtown Amherst business district. If granted, it will be the only downtown convenience store with an off-premise all alcohol license. Now, is the premises with a liquor license at 259 Triangles to appropriate for this area? As stated before, 259 Triangles is located in a mixed-use neighborhood that has both residents and businesses. Within walking distance of the market, there are restaurants, pizzerias, bakeries, banks, coffee shops, pharmacy, laundromat, clothing stores, a theater and there are other businesses, medical offices and professional offices. It is also just a short distance from UMass to the north and across town, Amherst College itself. The location of the Amherst Market is compatible with local churches and schools and the establishment and location has never been found detrimental to the educational or spiritual activities of those institutions. Both the view of Amherst inhabitants and assessment of public wants. The market is in a convenient location with plenty of parking spaces for customers that have driven to the market. Patrons stop in, they pick up food and other items including beer and wine and beer and after visiting other businesses such as the bank next door or the pizzeria or the medical office. The character of the neighborhood is conducive to foot traffic. Many of the residents needs can be met by local business without the use of personal motor vehicles. Many consider Amherst Market their neighborhood market. Many of the market's patron have provided statements of what you have in support of their application and their wish that the Amherst Market carries the still spirits. Amherst Market has worked very hard to maintain its reputation as a friendly inviting store that is responsive to the patrons and has helpful and well-trained staff. The staff continues and we will speak to this, are continually upgraded and trained in both customer service and security in terms of items, products such as alcohol or tobacco. The market also supports activity in the local community and neighborhood. It is indeed a neighborhood market. They make the extra effort to talk to customers to improve their services. The other factor supporting licensing of Amherst Market includes the noise level of the market is compatible to the surrounding neighborhood. There are the typical sounds and noises from the neighborhoods such as business and domestic vehicles, site construction, business patrons, public gatherings, residential activities, and of course the university related activity, typical activities and special communities activities, especially at Kendrick Park. Amherst Market has had a off-premise wine and malt license at this location 259 Triumph Street for almost three years and there have been no problems, no violation, and they have not heard of any service related complaints from their customers. The management stresses safety and security around the storage and sale of alcohol and tobacco and similar products, which includes limiting access, aid identification checks, and limited camera surveillance around those areas, sales areas. The management attributes the success to a well-trained staff, the store clerks, and the the store security measures. In the past 20 years, a chief Tasnim as the manager of Amherst Market has held alcohol licenses in his stores and other municipalities such as Sutherland and Northampton. He has held these licenses without any licensing complaints or any violation and Mr Tasnim, do you have comments to ask? Do you have a short statement? If you give me permission, can I talk? Of course you have. Yes, please. My name is Atif Tasnim and I live in Northampton and my family in this business is still started in 1996. We have first store in Northampton and I still own a couple store in Sutherland, Massachusetts. I have a beer wine business in more than 20 years, but we never have any problem there. And we used to have a two store Northampton and we have a beer wine there too, but we never have any problem there. And my employees are well trained and I told always my employees to check ID, everyone who buy the beer and wine, cigarette, tobacco, anything. And I already have Amherst Market, the ID schedule in my store is already there, you know. And we are very careful to check everything, you know. And we have cameras in the store inside and outside, and we are watch our customers very carefully. If there's any problem, my employees train to check camera right away. They have access to the camera. They can check right away if something happened or somebody tried to steal or something like that. We protect very good there, you know. And that's all I would like to say to you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Are there any questions currently for other Mr. Bascom or Mr. Tasnim? Dylan? Yeah, my question is, I know in there now you've got that kind of cooler for beer, and then you got that little section for wine. And what are you expecting the layout of the store to look like if you would receive this license? Kind of what section of the store would be dedicated to beer, wine, and alcohol? We have, when we enter our store, the way that we have the register, the left side hole is we are trying to do the food last couple of years, but with the cover, you know, the supply of the food and some of the stuff, you know, we didn't start a food there. We have plenty of this room here. We can make a whole side is for the full liquor, you know, if you got a license. And we get a lot of customers every, especially Friday, Friday, Thursday, Saturday, they come they are asking for full liquor stuff, you know, but we say no. And because there is the one liquor license in downtown in the south side, but north side people, near our store, we don't have any liquor license. And a lot of apartments building and neighbors around us, you know, a lot of people don't have a car to go to the Big White Plaza or go to other far away, you know. And I talk to a lot of people, they was very happy. They say, we'd be happy if you guys have everything here, then we have to stop by one place. And we used to have a one next door hour was cousin market in the north side, you know, and the cousin market is no more there too. And that's why people say, if you got a license, you will replace for there, you know, and we have a lot of tourists come there. They don't know where to go. They don't didn't mostly know only the downtown area, you know, and that's where they come over there and our store. And they ask us, we said, we don't have a full liquor, you know, and we have a lot of parking over both sides back in the front, you know. And I think so the sort of the market reserve for this license. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm just marketing. If I may add, one of the I think advantage of this location is that Ambrose market is in proximity of a number of large construction or just complete construction of apart mixed use, but it's a large apartment buildings. Plus, it is a very dense residential area all around the market. And that's why the market has probably more food traffic than people driving in, but there's plenty of parking. If you know the location around the market, but they do do a lot of business with the neighborhood. And I think that's one of the advantage and that's why a lot of folks who go there, who are called patrons go there is because they're in the neighborhood. They have a well-trained, courteous, helpful sales clerks and a well-stocked convenience store to go along with their current wine and malt license. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Bastum. Are there any other questions for this license applicant currently? If not, let's open the last one. Okay, and this is, is there a motion to open the hearing for MOVA, LLC, doing business as Cushman Market 491 Pine Street, Manager Peter Sylvan? Go move. Thank you, Doug. Again, thank you, Mr. Bastum and Mr. Tesneem. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dylan. We'll take a vote. Gaston? Hi. Doug? Hi. Hallie? Oh, Helen? Sorry. Thank you. Dylan? Hi. And I vote aye. Five to zero. The hearing for MOVA LLC is now open. All right. I am seeing a, Phil Hartman raising his hand. Okay. Phil, will you be presenting this application? Phil, you should be able to speak, but you'll have to unmute. Okay. Sorry about that. This is Pete Sylvan speaking. I just happened to be using a friend's iPad. I'm out of town. So first, I want to thank the board for the opportunity to speak. I'm speaking on my own behalf. I am the owner and manager of Cushman Market and have been such for the past 17 years. For those of you who may or may not be familiar with the market, it's a market and a cafe. And the market has a variety of food offerings from frozen foods, chicken, fish, that kind of thing, milk bacon, eggs, bread, fresh baked bread, that kind of thing. So it's an active grocery market as well as a cafe in the back. And we also sell and have sold beer and wine the entire time. So, you know, I think in general, I just want to say that, I mean, I don't, I'm going to speak briefly about a couple things that I feel might distinguish Cushman from the other applicants. I think in general, and from listening just now, all the applicants sound like very acceptable good applicants for a liquor license. They all offer a lot of similarities. As we do good parking, we have ample parking. It's never been a problem. We've been operating without incident for 17 years. We have a friendly staff. We're going to use the same science technology ID for checking identifications. So I think there's a lot of similarities there amongst the applicants. I feel that the one or two things that we can offer that might be of interest is number one, I feel like there's, because we are an active grocery store, it's kind of like a mini Whole Foods kind of store, but very minty, but it has a lot of a variety of offerings. And so I think that, you know, while people are buying their, you know, their bread and fish and eggs and other things that they do actually shop there, they can also buy wine, beer, alcohol. And so there is some benefit, in my opinion, in terms of limited carbon footprint, you don't have to drive to another store just to buy your liquor. It could be all in one shop. In terms of, you know, we also, we do not sell cigarettes. We do not sell lottery tickets. We will not sell nips. Our target market is, you know, maybe slightly niched in that regard, but we will have, I mean, I feel like cousins is, not cousins, I'm sorry, big guy is nearby enough for college students. And that's really not our intention or our market. We'll be more focused on, you know, the basic well-typed drinks as well as, you know, the basic, you know, vodka drink, you know, selection of that, as well as more artisan type things. And my intention is to have more of an interactive experience with the customers. We have already been in touch with the, one of the bartenders from the archives bar in town that does craft cocktails. So we, the plan is to have some informational sessions with them speaking about how to combine different kinds of alcohols to make craft cocktails and that kind of thing. You know, in terms of our business as well, we have, we've also, we're very focused on a green business. We, since I opened, we've composted all our food scraps from day one. We have timers on all our lights and the LED similar to the other places, which I assume we'll do as well. But we're, we, that's always been a focus of mine. My background originally is in natural sciences, environmental and natural sciences. That's, that's basically what I wanted to say. I'm in terms of locations, you'll, I'm sure you have all the maps of where the other places are, where the needs are. I don't know that this is relevant or not for Amherst, but we do also serve Leverett and Shootsbury quite extensively. I know that they're not in Amherst, but all one world and they've got to drive somewhere to get their alcohol and we're, we're the closest place for them as well. There's nothing in Leverett, there's nothing in Shootsbury. There's the co-op in Leverett, but that's beer and wine only. So that's essentially what I wanted to say. You know, if you have any question, I do plan on having extensive education with the staff in terms of explaining, you know, the nuance differences between different types of alcohol because there's such a variety today in craft alcohols as well as, you know, craft wine and beer. That's pretty much what I had on my list, I believe. Do you have any questions? I'm happy to answer them. Thank you very much Mr. Sullivan. Are there any questions, Gaston? Thank you so much and thank you for running Cushman's. I wonder how much shelf space you envision if you, if you have the license for liquor? Yeah, well actually, so the plan is to, I'm not sure if you're familiar, I actually had submitted a drawing a while back. I don't know if you received that with Stephen McCarty. So you might have seen that, but the plan is we have a, we have about, it's a pretty good wired section right now, shelving unit that's probably about six feet tall by 12, 15 feet wide and so, you know, so that will be the alcohol section and then we'll move the wine to some of the other interior shelves. We do some of the other things that we have, not so much, you know, like, you know, we'll still want to be able to supply a variety of groceries and we have a lot of gift items. We'll reduce the gift items, somewhat alcohol will take a lot of place of that and we'll reduce some of the food items just in terms of, we don't need three types of ketchup or one type of ketchup, that kind of thing. So we'll have, we'll just tighten things up a little bit in terms of, in terms of that, that's the plan and then and then see where, see where it goes. Yeah, got it. Thank you. And I did find the drawing, which is helpful. Thank you so much. Sure. Thank you. Any other questions from Mr. Sullivan about Cushman Market? No? Okay. So thank you very much, Mr. Sullivan. A pleasure. Presentation. So we have, we still have all the hearings open and so do we want to talk about them, ask any other questions of any of the applicants while they're here, while we have the hearing open? Do we want to- I guess I would ask the same question about shelving to Amherst Market or I need to look at the drawing if they sent one with that information. Mr. Teznim, you want to answer that question? Yeah, but with a shelving. We have like a Navastro left side, like all the way, whole wall is empty, you know. I will say it's by like, maybe I'll say more than 500 square feet, it's less than half, little less than half storey, we can make it empty on the left side, you know. Because right now we have some freezer there and food stuff there, you know, and we can remove all this stuff and we can make it, they're all shelving aside the wall. And this is very safe place next to the register, we can keep eyes on it, we can watch it, everything, you know. But this is like all the way and whole wall, we're going to do it. And if I may have a follow up, I guess several of the other applicants mentioned their policy on NIPPS and I wonder if you have thought about that. We wouldn't move it from the store if they are doing something like fresh stuff, you know. But if we keep it, we're going to keep it behind the counter mostly, mostly people keep it behind the counter, you know, do for safety for the people who cannot grab it, you know. Yeah, but if we have a ton, say we will have like a big bottle, stuff like that, you know. Thank you. And to add to that, if I may, the counters run to the wall, which has a very large storage area. So for storage, storing whether it be beer, alcohol, or spirits, it would be right next to those counters and secured behind a locked area. Thank you. Was there another question, Hallie? I actually had listed on my questions about this application just with the proximity to the park about the NIPPS and if there was a way to prevent littering after hours and sort of, you know, would you, if it becomes a problem, would you not sell them? Yes, yes, we agree with that. Okay, thank you. Can I mention something? Yes, please. Even right now, our store, we try to not sell single bottle, you know. We try to sell six-pack, 12-pack, 30-pack, you know. And that's why if you go in my store right now, you will see, we don't sell even single bottle, like people grab one bottle, we don't sell mostly people, you know. Because the people buy one bottle, sometimes they throw it on the side, you know, and we just sell six-pack and 12-pack mostly, you know, like that. And the packing, you know, yeah. All right, thank you. Yes, please. Any other questions for any of the other applicants? While the hearing is open, Dylan? I guess I just had a question after the board. Do we want to leave the hearings open and then begin deliberation in case we have more questions, or we want to close the hearing and begin deliberation? What's the best way to move forward on that? I would just remind the board that, you know, once they do begin deliberations, it'd be good to solicit any public comment on these applications as well. Oh, should we do that now? Yeah, why don't we do that now? Is there any public comment on these applications? If there is, please just raise your hand using Zoom. I believe you can find that at the bottom bar there. If you're on the phone, you can press star nine to raise your hand. So if, all right, we do have... Do we have any? I can't, I'm not, I'm unable to see them for some reason, Steve. We do have one right now. We can start with Mr. Hoare. Is there anybody else who would like to comment? Please just raise your hand and we can come to you in turn. All right, Mr. Hoare, thank you. Welcome. Yes, thank you very much. I live on Cottage Street, off of Triangle. I've lived here since 1992. And I remember the hearing when Amherst Market first wanted to spend, sell wine and beer. And there really hasn't been any problems since they started selling wine and beer. I will say that in the past, I spent a lot of time picking up nips on the sidewalk and my lawn. We had a vodka bottle tossed through the front window of the house at one point. And there's a lot of student rentals in the neighborhood. I would just assume not see that continue. And I would like to see it certainly not escalate. I think some of the applicants that you have heard today, particularly Cushman, which does not serve a student population, has real benefits. And I think the liquor store down on University Drive, which wants to open up again, is not in a residential area. It would be a great place for this license. I did not favor the Triangle Street selling beer and wine. And one of the concerns was that would then go to distilled spirits. And here we are. So that's my personal concern. And I take you. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to say something. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anyone else here for public comment on these applications? Steve, do you see anyone? I am seeing nobody. If you'd like to comment, please read your hand now or forever hold your piece. No. I'm not seeing anybody in the audience. Mr. Evans is raising his hand. Okay. Mr. Evans. Yes. There. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. I just wanted to rebind the board. I think there were several letters submitted directly to the board and submit in support of no-cance application. And I just wanted to remind the board to take a look at them, please, before you make a decision. Thank you. Right. Thank you very much. Has anyone had a chance to look through those letters of support? Yes. Okay. Yeah, there were numerous letters of support for various applicants that came in. Some were included in the original packet and some did come in the supplemental packet today, but that should be all the communication the board's received. Okay. So is there any other, does anyone have any other questions? Do we want, there are a couple of ways we can proceed. We could close the hearing and deliberate afterwards. Is that correct? And then decide whether we want to award the license tonight. And if we want more time to think about it. What does, is that right, Mr. Riley? Yes. I mean, it's really board discretionary call here. You may, you know, perhaps if you deliberate now, you may realize that you're all sort of thinking the same, but you never know. So you could really do it either way. I would, I would recommend though, if the board is, if the members are going to start discussing the applications and whether they think maybe one has more pluses than another. I mean, typically you would close the public hearing before you do that. Right. I don't, I don't think you want applicants kind of jumping in in the middle of your, that kind of discussion. And usually you would close the hearing before you start that kind of discussion. So once we close the hearing, we can't, there are no more questions from the applicants or to the applicants. Is that correct? Right. You've, you've received all the evidence, you know, they wanted to put in all the exhibits and whatnot. So I think, I think the public hearing could be, could be over at this point. Okay. So does anyone have any other questions or would like any other information from our applicants? I have just one last question for our last two businesses or for Triangle Street and Amherst Market in Cushman, that you are both kind of beloved neighborhood stores. What happens if your sales of alcohol kind of take over your profit? Would you see yourself expanding physically or reducing the other items in the store you have? Or how would you handle those scenarios? We have them here. Yeah. Just trying to manage our screen. Hello. Go ahead first. I'll talk after. Okay, go ahead. Okay. Well, this is Pete from Cushman. In response, I don't believe it's possible to expand without a lot of the store, the footprint, without a lot of work anyway and then an appeals. So that would not be my first way to expand sales. I think we would just, you know, basically we would reduce, we have, right now we have a pretty extensive gift section. And that's kind of, yeah. So I think we would reduce that gift section significantly and just, just move the, move into more alcohol sales in those areas. So I don't think we would expand the footprint, although never, I would, I haven't looked into that, but I, you know, that's my gut feelings. That would be a pretty difficult process. So that would be the, that would be the first, the first go ladder. And then who knows down the road, you know, if it's really taking off, I might, might entertain looking into what I would take to expand the footprints. Thank you. Okay. My name is Ateef and if we got this political license, we know we, luckily we have a lot of room in my store on the left side of the wall all the way and, and we have, we don't have to reduce anything. It's going to bring more customer inside. It's going to bring a more sale inside to my store. Luckily we have a full liquor license there. And we don't have to reduce anything. You don't have to, but if let's say in a year or two, the balance of your business starts to shift, like the hard liquor alcohol becomes very popular. Could you see yourself? Is that what you're asking? How are you reducing some aspects of the business and focusing more on hard alcohol, where it turns into basically a more of a functioning full-fledged liquor store, right? If it becomes more profitable then say. I like to combination for everything, you know, because I love to be customer coming to the store. They can buy milk, bread, eggs, beer, wine or alcohol or anything they need. You know, that's why I want to be big, bring like one stop, one place for everything for everybody. Okay. One of the, excuse me. One of the additional things that Mr. Tezgina has talked to me about is expanding his specialty items that he's bringing in. So the current plan is to expand the types of food to make it a little more international rather than specialize in, you know, beer or spirits. That's not the specialty, not intended to be the specialty for the store. Okay. Gaston? I just wanted to invite the 181 University Drive applicant. Is there something that you'd like to add in light of the other considerations that have come up? Mr. Riedi. Yeah, thanks a lot. Sure. I'm happy to do it. Thanks for the opportunity. Excuse me. So I think, I guess maybe employees, we're going to have 7 to 12 employees. I can go through the hours of operation there in the lease, you know, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. I think based on what I'm, the line of questioning that I'm hearing, it's, you know, as I said in the presentation, this is only a liquor store. And so there's no displacement of other products. There's no, you know, anybody that's coming into this store is coming in to buy alcohol and the operators know that it's not children coming in for candy or soda or people coming in for bread or milk. It's a discrete use and in a modest space with sufficient oversight. So I think, you know, we'd rely on what we said originally, but I think it's worth mentioning. You know, we're not near a high school. We're not near a park. We're in a commercial plaza and we think it's ripe for success. You know, one of the other things for the town to think about is the tax revenue generated from sales tax from alcohol. And, you know, you only have eight of these in town. If you were to give it to somebody who has other offerings and are only offering limited shelf space, how much tax revenue is the town going to make off of one eighth of their liquor licenses that they have? So, you know, the use that we're proposing is just liquor, obviously, with sufficient oversight. And so we, you know, it'll be safely operated. But thanks for the opportunity. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And that matter should we invite any... Oh, Dylan, did you have a question? I did. This is going to be a question, I guess, for both 181 and Amherst. Market is what is policy on selling nips? I know I think Amherst Market said they want to but are amenable to not. But then what is it for 181 as well? Yeah, if I'm still on, I think what we would do is follow any local or state regulation. So we would say we would offer them my personal opinions that there's probably going to come a time not too far from now where there's going to be a regulation which says you cannot sell them. And then obviously we would follow that. So, you know, we don't necessarily want to hamstring ourselves because we think we have sufficient means in a good location, you know, to prevent that, the litter. But I see what's coming down the pike. So I think that's what we would say. And I like to mention, but I'm very open for this one. If you guys like, I will stop selling, you know, and I will never bring nips and small packing in my store, you know. I will sell big bottles and like full liquor, you know. And I'm very open, you know. Thank you. All right, any other questions for any of our applicants? Does anyone else, when any of the applicants have anything else to add? Before we close the hearing, if so, raise your hand and Steve can let you in to speak. Is there anyone, Steve? Nobody. Nobody? Okay, thanks. Oh yeah, sorry, go ahead. Who was that? Yeah, let me see. I'm not getting my box here. Can you hear me? Yeah, Mr. Selman. Yeah, please go ahead. Just as I was hesitant to throw this out, but just in terms of location, I'm assuming, and kind of going back to my comment before about us all being connected and surrounding areas, the other, there is a liquor 44s, although not in Amherst, is in Hadley, and is in relatively close proximity to some of the other applicants. So I just wanted to make sure the board was aware of that as well in terms of plotting out liquor stores in the area. That not just focusing on Amherst and Sel. Okay, thank you. Sure. Thank you very much. Any other questions? I know other testimony from anyone. This is your last call. Not okay. Ready to close the hearing? All four? Do we need to do it? Dylan's got his hand up. Oh Dylan, sorry, go ahead. I was just going to make the motion to close the four public hearings. All right. Thank you. Dylan, is there a second? Doug, you're muted, but that's a second. Thank you. Okay. Any further discussion? Anything else before we close it? Nope. Okay. Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Gaston? Hi. Hallie? Hi. Doug? Hi. Dylan? Hi. And I vote aye, five to zero. The hearing for the four applications is now closed. All right. So I'd like to move on to deliberation. So how do we want to do? Do you just want to start deliberating on this? Are we interested in thinking about it a little bit more or just jumping right in? Go ahead, Dylan. I mean, I'll jump right in. I'll kick us off. Great. I mean, my biggest factor personally, I think, is going to be it is location. And I will admit, I hadn't considered pushments too much for location, but it is a good point about, I think, leverage servicing that area as well. So I also think Lickers 44 definitely services that area down by University Drive. But my initial point at this point in the discussion is, I think, Amherst Lickers or Amherst Market, as well as the previous one at Six University Drives, were very suitable locations for where I think there was a need for this. I know I've certainly experienced that lack of the Lickers store over at Six University Drive. And anecdotally, prior to this license coming back to us, heard mention of that being an inconvenience of it being lost in that location. So looking at these applications, I think they all look good. I wish we had more licenses. But for me, its location really is. And I'm currently leaning more towards the Six University and Amherst Market more than anything else right now. I'd like to hear from other people kind of what your criteria is and what you're thinking about. All right. Thanks, Dylan. Anyone else? Kelly? I mean, if you're asking what I'm thinking, I feel like there are two kind of issues. I mean, we want to support a all-encompassing alcohol liquor store or if we want a mom and pop that offers one stop shopping. In terms of that's something for the board to debate. In terms of location, I do feel with the new construction on University, that is a prime location, making it walkable and to serve that side of the community. Thanks, Kelly. Anyone next? Anything, any immediate thoughts about it? Any preference? I'm grateful for the four applicants. And I agree there would be... It's sad to deny any of these applications. I'm very impressed with the father-son team over on at the lost location. Like Six University Drive. Right. Yeah. No, that is nice. I do think they all have really great merits. I think the variety of different business models here, especially with Cushman Market, I do think that there is the need over on University Drive seems to be a little more pressing, especially with the lost location. And that the... Yes. Anyone else? Doug, what do you think? I think it's new to add to what people have already said. So I think that we've got good applicants, which is encouraging. And I think there are advantages and disadvantages to most of these. And I think that I have a couple that I'm leaning toward, but a couple, but not wildly so, and no one specific that's jumping out for me at the moment. I want to personally contemplate these a little bit more. I mean, I don't want to stream it along our four candidates, either, but at the same time, I think we want to be pretty deliberate in our choice. So I'm personally wanting a little more time to think through some of this. I think there are aspects of each of these that have some merits and have some consideration and things we want to think through. And in some ways, I think I kind of want to drive the spaces again and think about the locations a little more deeply, because I think that's a pretty critical component of our decision making and think about proximity of options for folks and environments around those spaces. So those are the kinds of things I'm thinking about at the moment and not decided at this moment time, for sure. Okay, great. How is everyone else thinking that we'd like to take a little more time? And if so, how much time? And what would our next step be? Mr. Reilly, if we want to, the next meeting on the forum? I mean, I think that makes sense. I don't know how far off that is for you, but I think it'd be appropriate to just bring it back. The hearings being closed, I would just stay on the record, so to speak, that I think it wouldn't be appropriate to accept any new letters, photographs, comments from residents, and that sort of thing. I think that part of the hearing is over. It's really just for the board to talk about what you heard and ultimately which one you would support the most. Okay, so... I mean, more time is attractive to postpone the decision, but I'm not sure that I think I don't need it necessarily. Okay, so... If that... I really don't want to... I also want to be sympathetic to the applicants, and I know that they're eager to have a decision made sooner rather than later. Yeah, I've got to join the dog pile. Sorry, I think we can probably get it done tonight. Yes, Doug? Okay, Doug, go ahead and... It's not that I can't make a decision. I was just saying I'd prefer to have more time. I'm not saying I can make one. So if the board is of an opinion that they're ready, I can weigh in with my opinion on that, so... Okay, so does anyone have anything else to say about any of this before we... Yes, Dylan? I was just going to say, I guess, you know, right now, for me, I'm leaning definitely more towards, I think, six, university, one, I think, a location. Two, I do like the appeal of a full liquor store utilizing the full liquor license. That's kind of where I stand now if somebody's leaning in another direction. And I'd like to hear it because it's not like I'm entirely sold on that. That's just where I feel right now. Anyone else has anything to add? I think I'm in line with that. And I'm hearing motivation and inspiration and some vision for that. And I think there's a potential to have a distinctive Amherst liquor store there based on the team. And so I'm leaning in that direction. Anybody else about any of them? I agree with the motivation and inspiration and proactively deciding not to sell the nips, which we've had a litter problem with. I also really like the location next to the big Y with the traffic light too for safety reasons. But I think either one is very walkable for the developments in town too. Okay. Well, if there's no further deliberation, is there a motion? So wait, what do we do at this point, Mr. Riley? Yeah, I think, well, you obviously have the hard job. But yeah, I mean, you've got four, you've had four hearings and one license. So the board needs to vote to pick one. And so that's why I said at the beginning, you may have sort of a moving towards a consensus anyway, but at some point, I think you need a motion to approve it for one of these four and take the vote and see what happens. Okay. Would anyone like to make a motion? Doug? I will. I moved to approve the license for Neil Camp at Sixth University Drive. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dylan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Gaston? Aye. Hallie? Aye. Doug? Aye. Dylan? Aye. And I vote aye, five to zero. The license is approved for Neil Camp at Sixth University Drive. Okay. And then to kind of complete the circle, you know, we need to send out four letters with a decision. So you have that one done, but I think the board should take three separate votes to deny the other applications and the reason being there's no license available for them. Right. And how would that motion look? Does that, like what's the line? Is there a motion? Oh, Doug, do you know how to do that? Sorry. I can, but should it be three separate motions you think? I think so. You know, I think it'd be better if the decision said the board, you know, the commission voted five to zero to deny your application for the reason being that there was no additional license available for you. Okay. So I will move to deny the application of N.D. Amherst based on the lack of an available license. Yeah. Thank you for the motion. Is there a second? Doug? Thank you, Dylan. Any further discussion? No. We'll take a vote. Gaston? Hi. Hallie? Hi. Doug? Hi. Dylan? Hi. And I vote aye, five to zero. That motion is approved. And number two? I'll move that Amherst market at 259 Triangle Street be denied a license because of the unavailability of a license. Thank you. Is there a second? I made the corporate name is Simra LLC for that one. I may just put it in the motion. I'll take it. Okay. Sorry. And Dylan, you had the second there? Yeah. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Gaston? Aye. Hallie? Aye. Doug? Aye. Dylan? Aye. And I vote aye. That is five to zero. The motion is approved. And the third one? And I would move to deny the license for Mulva, Inc. I think it's Mulva, Inc. for LLC based on the fact that there's no license available. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dylan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Gaston? Aye. Hallie? Aye. Doug? Aye. Dylan? Aye. And I vote aye. Five to zero. That motion is approved. Okay. So, Steve, you're going to need four decision letters. There hasn't been enough fun yet this week. All right. Thank you, everybody. And then, yes, Doug and then Hallie. I just say, I appreciate all four applicants and I felt that all of them had strong applications. It was sort of picking your favorite child kind of situation. So, I think it's helpful for us. And although these are unanimous but votes, it's not a reflection on any of those candidates or their applications. They're all good candidates. And we appreciate them wanting to do business in Amherst. Yes, definitely. Second, that sentiment. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Absolutely. Hallie, did you want to say? Any much what I was going to say and just I also want to acknowledge the time and financial effort that went into all of these applications. So, thank you all. Yes. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, great. So, thank you, Mr. Riley. Okay, my pleasure. Nice to see you all. Thank you, Brian. I will be in touch tomorrow about those letters. Okay, great. Thanks, Steve. All right, good night. Good night. Bye-bye. And Mr. Evans is still on. I don't believe I, since I made him a panelist, I don't believe I can remove him without kicking him out of the entire meeting. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. I believe it's to stick around for our topics not. I trust you will be respectful. Topics not anticipated. He is raising his hand. He is raising his hand. On behalf of my clients, I want to thank you very much and commend the board for excellent hearing and everything, especially Mr. McCarthy, has been very helpful in coordinating things. I want to thank him as well. Thank you, Mr. Evans. Thank you, Mr. Evans. And thank you, Steve. Yes, thank you. Thank you. It's a big job. We appreciate you guys. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We're going to serve the Amherst community real well. All right. Thanks. All right. So, Topics not anticipated 48 hours prior to the meeting. Any, oh, I just had one rental registration. Mandy, Johanna key is they are still not, they're delayed a little bit with talking about the bylaw. And so she's going to send me the most current draft of the rental registration laws, which I will send to Steve to send to all of you. And that's all I have. Is there anything else? Just an update. Protocols opening the long awaited. Oh, great. We gave up. And it looks like in the paper, there's going to be a whiskey bar, the place new construction on Spring Street. Steve, have we heard anything about that? Have not yet. So we will see what comes in. Right. I think even without these four, we've had our highest volume ever in the last month or two. So yeah. Good to see. Yeah, that's good to see. Right. One of one of my former coworkers from when I used to be a server up at fixed willies is going to be bartending over a protocol. So the C Sophia tell her, I always say hello. All right. So our next meeting is, do we have a meeting on the 30th? Are we just going right to April? Oh, we should go is April 6th. We do have a meeting on the 30th. I believe the spoke was continued until then. Oh, right. That's right. I forgot about the new spoke. We will also have a change in manager for the old spoke. So, okay, be a media hearing as well. So also, did you ever follow up with the, I think it was Garcia's the manager there left? No, let me make a note to do that. Yeah. And so because they're supposed to let us know before they they change. Yes. I was out of the office for a little while shortly as I came in. So I will circle back with them. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. So as the next we have April 6th. So we've got a meeting a week after that. Is that right? Because we're doing the first and the third Thursdays and then the 20th. Is that okay? The 20th is vacation week. I don't know if anybody is I'm going to 30th. Oh, sorry. The 30th. You mean not the 12th. Oh, sorry. This is the 20th of April. Sorry. Right. Right. Yeah. Because we knew after the 30th, we go back to our regular schedule of the first and the third. And that's everyone's all right with that. I'm not going to have anything scheduled for either April meeting yet. So if the board wanted to move them around. So we will be bumping up with ZBA. But I'm back to 430 or if we have a short meeting, we should be able to accommodate both of those one night. Okay. Well, we could just do it. I just want to leave it on the 6th. Is that cool? Fine with everyone? Or no. No. Okay. All right. Well, let's just leave it on the 6th for the time being. So all right, we'll see everyone here on the 30th at five. And is there a motion to adjourn? Who wants that one? Is there a second? Thank you. We'll take a vote. Gaston. Aye. Hallie. Aye. Doug. Aye. Dylan. Aye. And I vote aye. Five to zero. We're adjourned at 647. And thanks everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. And I appreciate your service with this. A lot more uncomfortable than our usual business, but I think you all did a great job. So thank you all for stepping up. Thank you, Steve, for all the work behind it. Yeah. All right. See everyone on the 30th. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye.