Brookhaven licensing board affirms denials of four renewals and urges council to reconsider fee changes

The Brookhaven Alcohol Licensing Board affirmed the city’s denial of four liquor-license renewal applications and voted to send a statement to the City Council criticizing recent fee changes as not business-friendly.

Chair Joseph Patey opened the Feb. 13 meeting and led the board through findings from four appeal hearings held over the previous two weeks. The board moved to affirm the city’s denial of the renewal application for Russ Lounge; Patey said the hearing had been heard by board members Grice, Potan and Sokolowski and the motion passed unanimously.

The board then considered Medusa Restaurant & Lounge. Patey noted the Medusa hearing had been heard by Chris Sokolowski, Michael Lennon and Patey himself (Richard Grice was not present for that hearing). The board moved to affirm the denial of Medusa’s renewal application; the chair recorded an abstention tied to an absence.

For XS Restaurant & Lounge, the board affirmed the city’s denial after a roll-call vote that the chair summarized as "Aye, Aye, Nay." Patey said the panel that heard XS had included all members, but one member (Sam) was not present at the current meeting and would be recorded as an abstention for administrative purposes.

The board also affirmed the denial of the renewal application for Egress Society Corp DBA Josephine; Patey said all four board members had been present for that hearing before the panel voted on the motion.

After the votes, Patey moved that the board convey to the City Council that, while the denials were upheld, the change in fees "fails to suggest that Brookhaven City is business friendly." The motion to forward that statement to Council was moved, seconded and approved.

The board tabled approval of minutes from the Feb. 8 meeting until the next session and adjourned after completing signature formalities.

Actions recorded at the meeting were limited to motions to affirm the city’s prior denials and a motion to transmit the board’s statement on fee changes to City Council. Specific individual vote assignments were not consistently recorded in the transcript; the chair announced outcomes and, where recorded, counted votes verbally.