May 11, 2020

“Mr. McManus said that he would like to make a motion to renew the Seasonal Wine & Malt Liquor License - Dockside Seafood Shack, LLC doing business as Dockside Seafood Shack, 715A Route 28, Harwich, with a seating of 50. Seconded by Mr. Ford. Mr. Ballantine said that he could not agree more with what Mr. MacAskill and Mr. Ford said. Mr. Howell said, though he realized that he was going to get colossally outvoted, he had just a couple of things for the record, so people remember how we got here. An RFP went out, which did not guarantee a liquor license. As soon as it came back with one offer, inexplicably no one that had the RFP understood that they were not going to be faced with being able to utilize three times as much property as they thought they would. Just so everyone knows and they don't get ahead of themselves, this colossal business that is going to help the town, is right next to a business that had to buy a location. Secondly, just to put it in perspective, the $24,000 plus that he was paying for lease payments, if we were expecting that to defray the harbor it would take a 100 years for that to occur. Mr. Howell continued that he was not impressed to help out funding a two plus million-dollar site. It was Mr. Clark and Mr. Griffiths that walked the property and extended the property. When you set a liquor license up, you have to attach a site plan, the site plan approved by the Planning Board does not get you the 50 seats. They have stretched a lot of things here, they opened without a certificate of occupancy last year, and he does not think other businesses would have been afforded. Mr. Howell said that he will vote against this, obviously it will pass four to one, but there is just so much wrong with this. Mr. Ballantine asked Mr. Joe Griffiths, lessee, for comment. Mr. Griffith said he wanted to make one comment to Mr. Howell. He said that the perimeter of the operating area that the Shack operates in, is attached to the lease. It was clearly delineated from the time the bid went in and the lease subsequently was drafted, negotiated and signed by the town. So, no secrets there. He would appreciate a yes vote for all the reasons that Mr. MacAskill has enumerated, which saved him a lot of time and he appreciates the assistance. Mr. Griffith believes that he has been a good neighbor and has provided an operation that the town can be proud of. The people like it, and he plans on continuing that same quality. Also, the 50 seats will likely end up to be 25 or 30 this summer, due to the Governor's policies with COVID-19. Mr. Ballantine told Mr. Howell that they could debate this for a long time. He agrees that there have been some mistakes, however it is a nice feature for Harwich Port. They don't need to debate this too much longer. Mr. MacAskill said he has no debate. In the beginning of this he agreed with Mr. Howell, but they passed it. This is a town facility and at this point they have to pay for. He would just like to make it clear that he is fine with the motion, although they are not just allowing 50 seats. With COVID-19, it has to follow the Governor's guidelines and it also needs to pass through the Planning Board. If the Planning Board comes back and says it can only be 16 seats, then it will need to be revisited. This should not be held up; small businesses are suffering. They took their time to get this in front of the Planning Board, and he does not believe they should make this person wait four more weeks. They should support the motion as it is now. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Ford - Aye, Mr. McManus - Aye, Mr. Howell - Nay, Mr. MacAskill - Aye, Mr. Ballantine - Aye. Motion carried by a vote of 4-0-1.” (Motion: McManus, second: Ford)

Read it in the official minutes, page 7 (PDF)