The Westerly board overseeing licenses and permits approved a long list of one-time event and alcohol licenses for the rest of the summer during a meeting captured in the Westerly Other Committee's published meeting recording, and heard a resident's complaint about a bar exceeding its live-music hours on the Fourth of July weekend.
Consent calendar and routine business The board opened by re-approving minutes from its June 11 regular meeting and June 18 special meeting, both by voice vote, after members noted the items had technically already been approved once before but were being formalized again.
Summer events approved Members approved, without opposition, a series of one-time event licenses tied to Westerly's summer calendar, including:
- Additional Tunes on the Dunes concert dates, with fees waived
- The Smoky Bear Parade on July 16
- The Watch Hill Memorial Library and Improvement Society's Summer Boutique fundraiser on July 31 and August 1
- Two wedding receptions, including one at the Margin Street Inn
- The Artists' Cooperative Gallery's "Art Heist" fundraiser on August 22
- The Chariho Cowboys Youth Football and Cheerleading event
- The Belly Button 5K road race on Atlantic Avenue on September 28
Representatives for two events answered board questions in person. Organizers of the American Cheese and Spirits 250th Tasting, planned for August 13 at a downtown venue, said the event will pair five American cheeses with small tasting portions of bourbon, beer, gin, cider and rye for a capped crowd of 24 people; the board approved both the event license and an accompanying Class F1 liquor license. A representative of the Westerly Land Trust, a private nonprofit distinct from the town's own land trust, described the group's annual Farm Dinner fundraiser, planned for September 12 at its Bradford Road preserve, and the board approved both the event and an accompanying beer-and-wine license.
The board also ratified several events that had already taken place, including a July 3 barbecue with fireworks, a July Fourth "Beach Bash" with fireworks at the Ocean House, a theater performance, and earlier Tunes on the Dunes dates.
Extended hours for Dunn's Corners businesses Following a public hearing, the board approved extended retail hours for two businesses in the Dunn's Corners area of town: a Honeydew Donuts location at 240 Post Road, which sought hours of 4 to 6 a.m., and a Dunkin' location at 227 Post Road, which sought hours of 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Representatives for both businesses answered brief questions and neither request drew objection.
Resident raises noise complaint about bar's amplified music During the correspondence portion of the meeting, a Weekapaug-area resident told the board that a nearby bar, identified as Paddy's, played amplified music from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 5 — well beyond the 1 to 5 p.m. window allowed under its outdoor entertainment license. Under that license, the business may host a band until 5 p.m. and only acoustic music between 5 and 9 p.m. on weekends, according to board members.
The resident said a neighbor's phone app registered the music at roughly 90 decibels from the beach at 2:30 p.m., and that she called police three times without an officer coming out to take an official reading. She said she was told by police that the business's permitted hours were 1 to 5 p.m., and that a call she placed to the business itself, which uses an automated answering system, was never returned.
Board members said they had not received any police report documenting decibel violations at the business and asked the town's licensing staff to check for one before the board's next meeting. One member suggested the July 5 date may have been an isolated lapse tied to the holiday weekend, but said the board intends to follow up if problems continue. The resident said she plans to insist that police come to her property to take a decibel reading if the issue recurs.
What's next The board took no formal action on the noise complaint, and town staff are expected to report back on any police findings at the board's next meeting, scheduled for August 13.