Westport farm’s liquor license bid draws fire

Weatherlow Farms seeks full liquor license; hearing continued

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 4/10/19

It already has permission to host weddings and other events, it gets liquor licenses on a per-event basis, and now Weatherlow Farms on Sodom Road is asking for a full, year-round liquor …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Westport farm’s liquor license bid draws fire

Weatherlow Farms seeks full liquor license; hearing continued

Posted

It already has permission to host weddings and other events, it gets liquor licenses on a per-event basis, and now Weatherlow Farms on Sodom Road is asking for a full, year-round liquor license.

That request stirred sometimes impassioned debate before the Board of Selectmen last week and raised questions for which there were no immediate answers.

After more than an hour of back and forth, the hearing was continued to Tuesday, April 16. By then, board members say they hope for more details from farm owner Ryan Wagner, and input from the Board of Health, building inspector, town attorney, police, fire chief and others on a wide range of issues.

It’s the latest round in the still unfolding fallout from a Special Town Meeting vote that granted farms the right to host entertainment and tourism activities.

Mr. Wagner said the on-premises, all-alcohol license, the same that bars and some restaurants hold, will better enable Weatherlow to hold activities like the picnic dinners it began last year, and the offering of prepared foods in its new cafe. All outdoor events, he added, are required to end at 9 p.m., and that controls woiuld be put in place to make sure that alcohol consumption takes place in conbtrolled areas.

If outdoor events end at 9, why ask to sell alcohol until 11, asked selectman Brian Valcourt, does the request license specify serving alcohol from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.?

With private events, Mr. Wagner said, it is impossible to determine ahead of time precisely when the event will end.

“But you just said you agreed not to go past 9 o’clock,” Mr. Valcourt said.

“The 9 o’clock refers to outside events, Mr. Wagner replied, adding that they are also subject to the town’s noise ordinance.

Mr. Valcourt challenged the idea of granting a full liquor license “to someone outside of a business district in the first place … all others are located in a business district.”

He said he is concerned about “granting a full liquor license to a farm that does not produce liquor, that is located in a residential agricultural district. The precedent that sets is scary at least.”

“Basically, we’re licensing a bar on a farm in the middle of a residential agricultural district” with a 375 person capacity that could bring over 200 cars.

His farm, Mr. Wagner replied, has already won zoning board of appeals permission “to proceed with commercial endeavors which were defined and approved by the town. We are not asking you to do anything else.”

“But that doesn’t say you can have a liquor license, a full serving liquor license, in a residential agricultural district. It says you can have entertainment.”

Asked about that zoning approval, Zoning Board of Appeals member Gerald Coutinho, who was in the audience, said that the zoning board did indeed approve entertainment — “a very difficult decision, a split decision, 3-2. Basically it revolves around the bylaw that was passed at a special town meeting with less than 300 people.”

“There was no decision of any kind related to alcohol,” Mr. Coutinho said, “Frankly, I had to vote for this. I did not want to vote for this but I felt we were trapped by the bylaw that was passed at town meeting.” That “does not mean liquor licenses one way or another,” he said. “We haven’t had any test yet in a legal sense … This (bylaw) basically says put up what you want, whenever you want, because I’m a farm.”

“I think we have to look at the big picture,” Mr. Coutinho said. Weatherlow Farm may be a wonderful operation “but we are talking about any kind of event that would draw people” coming in and seeking a full liquor license. For instance, next door in Tiverton there was a proposal to open up motocross events.

In response to a question from selectwoman Ann Boxler, Mr. Wagner said he is limited to 15 large (up to 370 people) events a year by the Board of Health.

That’s more than one every summer weekend, another person replied, and there is no limit on the number of times that around 100 people could gather in the cafe and on the patio.

Others speak out

BOS Chairwoman Shana Shufelt opened up discussion to the audience, noting that the board had received 16 emails in support of the liquor license request.

“If I had known, I would have alerted everyone in my neighborhood” to write emails in opposition, replied audience member Janice Silvia,

Neighbor Sue Sherman said she has friends who died in crashes on dangerous Sodom Road. “So having a full liquor license, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Sunday, that to me is extravagant … It’s not a barn, it’s a venue.” They had a one-day liquor license, now they want a full liquor license. “What’s going to happen next — bands, casino … ? The town needs to look beyond today, to what could be if you open the barn doors so to speak.”

“Is there anything stopping him from opening up a bar in the barn if he gets this?” asked neighbor Frank Silvia.

There would be a bar, replied selectman Steve Ouellette. “A cafe serving alcohol - that’s a different name for a bar.”

Maury May, vice chairman of the Economic Development Task Force, said he supports the license because “economic development in this town does favor agriculture,” and the sale of alcohol can help make a farm viable. A farm “can’t just sell beef and chickens, they’ve got to sell other things.”

And, he added, “Someone once said, ‘dinner without wine is like a day without sunshine.’”

Marc De Rego, a member of the Planning Board agreed, saying Weatherlow offers the sort of attraction that Westport sorely needs.

“I think we are opening up a can of worms,” countered Gary Carreiro, chairman of the town Finance Committee. He said the town should not do anything without first getting legal advice.

This would be supported, added Mr. Ouellette, “in the proper area, not a residential area.”

When someone said that Board of Health enforcement would ensure that attendance levels stayed within limits, Mr. Valcourt said that seems unlikely. That board is out of money and not even able to enforce animal cruelty regulations, he said. “We don’t have the resources to police this.”

He added, “The biggest predictor of future behavior is past behavior. This applicant lied on his building permit application — said the barn was going to be for animals. It’s not. It’s an event venue. He has shown that he doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do. He claims to be a farmer but actually just buys animals in the spring, slaughters them in the fall. That’s it. I don’t see animals on that farm for the rest of the year,” September to May.

“I guarantee you,” Mr. Valcourt said, that within two or three years we will have at least half a dozen other farms asking for liquyor licenses. It’s a slippery slope.”

But Ms. Shufelt said, “To me it seems very clear there is an agricultural enterprise there and he is promoting the sale of his agricultural products. He has flower and he has proteins.”

Selectman Richard Brewer suggested that the sort of seasonal beer and wine license granted to the Bay Breeze oyster operation at Westport Point (also after much debate) might be a reasonable alternative.

“That is not a viable option for us,” Mr. Wagner said.

At the meeting, Mr. Valcourt said he also wants the applicant to further explain the need for an 11 p.m. license and why not 9 p.m.

“During the week, people need their peace. They work for a living.”

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.