[Ed note: This article was updated on August 13 to reflect the addition of another hearing.]
It looks like at least three emergency licensing board hearings are taking place this week regarding dining and drinking spots in the city of Boston.
According to an article from Universal Hub, a virtual emergency hearing is slated to take place at noon on Thursday, August 13 on beer gardens along with dining spots with temporary extensions to outdoor spaces, with the notice mentioning that this deals with complaints regarding such things as social distancing issues, mandatory operational requirements, tobacco use, and the presence of animals as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Another virtual emergency hearing will take place at 3:00 PM that day concerning restaurants in Allston/Brighton that have liquor licenses, with that notice including a look at the same complaints, while a third that focuses on the Seaport District (and looking at similar complaints) will be held on Friday, August 14 at 10:00 AM. For all three meetings, it appears that any business that fails to attend the emergency hearings could immediately lose any temporary extension of its outdoor area along with the potential of additional disciplinary action regarding its license, though the Seaport notice doesn't mention this specifically while the others do. (A similar emergency hearing took place in June for restaurants in the North End.)
The emergency hearings come on the heels of a tightening of state guidelines from the Baker administration that includes making sure that bars cannot be "masquerading" as restaurants by simply offering pre-packaged food such as chips and pretzels.
[Earlier Articles]
Boston Licensing Board to Hold Emergency Hearing for North End Restaurants to Address Numerous Complaints
Updated Rules Have Been Set for Massachusetts Bars, Including What Constitutes "Food"
by Marc Hurwitz (Also follow us on Twitter at @hiddenboston)
[A related post from our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants): List of Restaurant Closings and Openings in the Boston Area]
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