The Portsmouth Town Council voted July 27 to let a Park Avenue restaurant keep serving alcohol at its outdoor tiki bar through November 30, but only after the business obtains building, electrical, plumbing and state coastal permits it had been operating without, and only until 9 p.m. each night.
The approval came with an added condition that the owners hold a meeting with neighbors before the expanded license is released. Both the 9 p.m. amendment and the final motion passed 5 to 1, according to the town's published meeting recording. A council member noted the town clerk will not release the license unless staff confirm the permits are complete.
The council sat as the Board of License Commissioners for the item. A seasonal expansion is a temporary enlargement of the area where a licensed business may serve alcohol; it expires at the end of the stated period and must be requested again the following year.
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The first request, from a Park Avenue restaurant seeking outdoor food and alcohol service, was approved by voice vote with an end date of November 30. Council members changed the applicant's open-ended "end of season" language to a fixed date, saying the town should be consistent between the two applications. No one from that business attended.
The second request drew nearly an hour of discussion. A co-owner told the council the business had submitted electrical and plumbing permits and was working with an engineer to file a building permit. He said the bar had been open the prior weekend, and that the owners believed a Department of Health approval was all that was needed. Under questioning, he confirmed the tiki bar structure was installed roughly two and a half years ago and that the business does not yet hold a state Coastal Resources Management Council permit; an engineer speaking remotely said the application had been filed and was expected to be processed as a routine assent.
Neighbors asked the council to deny it
Four residents spoke against the expansion. One described amplified music, karaoke, marijuana smoke and people on his seawall from Wednesday through Sunday, and said he spent 27 months permitting a one-car garage on the same shoreline. Another resident said her family can clearly hear amplified sound from roughly 600 feet away and asked the council to withhold approval until noise concerns are addressed. A third resident described a near miss with a toddler walking into Park Avenue amid overflow parking, and urged the council to deny the application and make the owners wait a year.
The chair repeatedly limited testimony to the service-area expansion, noting that noise complaints and entertainment licenses are separate matters and that residents with noise concerns should file police reports.
One council member said she could not support the request because the permits were not in place, saying "ignorance is not bliss" and that the council would not approve a new bar under the same circumstances. Another council member said she was troubled that a community meeting promised at a previous meeting never happened; a resident confirmed by video that the meeting was not held. The council's motion ultimately required that meeting to occur before the license is released.
Other business
The council approved its consent agenda — a bundle of routine items voted on together — by voice vote, along with minutes from the June 22 meeting.
Members received a resignation from the Harbor Commission and approved reappointments to the Harbor Commission, the Dog Park Committee, the Melville Park Committee, the Planning Board and the town's representative to Discover Newport, all by voice vote.
Trash program, paving and a staff departure
The town administrator reported 311 Prudence Island households, 1,758 Hedley Street transfer station households and 2,738 curbside households had signed up for the new solid waste program. Council members said residents have complained about the short sign-up window and the requirement to pay all at once; the administrator said the town hopes to move to quarterly billing next year, and a council member said the compressed rollout was partly the council's doing.
Annual road paving begins August 3 and runs through September 1 on Founders Avenue, Robert Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Settler Street, Anne Avenue, Homestead Lane, April Lane, Lawrence Drive and Gideon Lawton Lane. Residents should expect temporary parking restrictions and brief closures during final paving.
Town Hall and the landfill close Monday, August 10 for Victory Day. Curbside collection slides one day that week, with Friday's route collected Saturday. The transfer station will be closed that Monday and open Wednesday.
The finance director is leaving the town effective August 18, and recruitment for a replacement is underway. That prompted a lengthy exchange over whether two council members may sit in on interviews for department heads. The town solicitor said the charter's requirement that the council approve department head appointments could reasonably be read to allow advisory council participation, while the council president read Section 305 aloud and said it bars the council from requesting appointments. A council member said she will bring a resolution at the next meeting.
Public comment: mosquitoes and a threatened lawsuit
A Common Fence Point-area resident asked the council to place mosquito control on a future agenda, describing standing water near the landfill and salt marsh and saying the state environmental agency has not responded to complaints over roughly 14 years.
A second speaker announced he intends to sue the town and named officials over what he described as selective code enforcement, citing a 2021 federal consent decree and a February attorney general finding that the town violated the Access to Public Records Act. Those are his allegations; no suit was described as filed. The council president declined to point the meeting camera at him, citing the wording on his shirt, which the speaker called a First Amendment violation.
Investment presentations and Cogswell School
Three firms presented on how the town might invest its general fund cash, currently held in interest-bearing checking accounts backed by standby letters of credit. Presenters described Treasury bill ladders yielding roughly 3.8 percent, a state-run investment pool yielding about 3.61 percent, and brokerage or fee-based advisory arrangements. No action was taken; the pension committee is expected to make a recommendation to the council by August 24.
A longtime resident proposed selling the closed Cogswell School building to a to-be-formed nonprofit youth activity center for $1, leasing the land for $1, with a $1 buyback clause for the town. The council president said repeatedly that the proposal is an idea rather than a business plan and that the building needs a roof, windows, siding, ADA compliance and plumbing and electrical upgrades. Another member said the entity described does not yet exist. No vote was taken.
What's next
The council also confirmed a school bond of up to $41 million will go before voters at the general election, covering projects including a middle school roof and a possible eighth grade wing redesign; the canvassing authority reviews the ballot language next. A resident called putting the bond on the ballot without a project list or debt service analysis a "dereliction of duty."
The council's next meetings are August 11, August 24, September 14, September 21 and September 28. A community event marking the nation's 250th anniversary is set for Saturday, August 22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Glen Park.