Burlington Town Meeting Approves Liquor License Petition

Burlington Town Meeting voted Monday night to allow the Board of Selectmen to seek additional liquor licenses for specific locations in town. 

The article was put forward by Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Sonia Rollins. It is also supported by the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, of which Rollins is the chairperson. The Burlington Board of Selectmen voted 4-0 to support the warrant article during a meeting early September. 

The vote allows the board to seek eight additional licenses from the state. Originally the warrant article was for 14 licenses but Rollins put forward a modified version during the meeting at the suggestion of the state. The six licenses removed from the warrant had less specific limitation on locations and the language was deemed too vague. 

The eight licenses approved will be for specific locations. Three will be limited to the Burlington Mall, three will be for New England Executive Park and two will be for a multi-screen theater complex at 20 South Avenue, AMC Theater. 

Some Town Members questioned the need for more liquor licenses in Burlington. Currently the town has 27 all-alcohol licenses, five beer and wine licenses and there are an extra eight licenses set for the 3rd Avenue/Northwest Park project. 

Precinct 4 Town Meeting member Virginia Mooney said she thought there were already too many restaurants and said she was against the article. 

Precinct 5 Town Meeting member Ernie Zabolotny asked at what point will Burlington have too many restaurants and new ones will cause diminishing returns.