HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1247        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 208

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Tackey Chan

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to large project based licenses.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1247        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 208

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act relative to large project based licenses.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 15 of Chapter 138 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following section: --

Section 15G.   Notwithstanding any other provisions of Chapter 138, there is hereby established the following: --

As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Shopping Center,” is defined as a group of retail and other commercial establishments that is planned, developed, owned and managed as a single property, typically with on-site parking provided.

“Mixed-Use Development,” is a real estate project with planned integration of some combination of retail, office, residential, hotel, recreation or other functions. It is pedestrian-oriented and contains elements of a live-work-play environment.

“Gross leasable area (GLA),” is the amount of floor space available to be rented in a commercial property. Specifically, gross leasable area is the total floor area designed for tenant occupancy and exclusive use, including any basements, mezzanines, or upper floors.

“Qualifying project for communities over 500,000 residents,” a real estate development project consisting of a building or group of buildings under common or affiliated ownership with a total combined gross floor area of at least 700,000 square feet and including at least 125,000 square feet of commercial space calculated as of the date of the project's receipt of Boston Redevelopment Authority Board, doing business as the Boston Planning and Development Agency, approval.

“Qualifying project for communities under 500,000 residents,” is a shopping center or mixed-use development or redevelopment with a GLA (gross leasable area) of 150,000 square feet.

“Restricted project-based licenses,” licenses for (i) the sale of all alcoholic beverages to be drunk on the premises within a qualifying project; and (ii) the sale of wines and malt beverages to be drunk on the premises within a qualifying project, and which are not subject to a city or towns quota established under section 17 of chapter 138.

“Umbrella restricted project-based license” or “umbrella license,” a license granted to the owner of a qualifying project under which additional restricted project-based licensees operating within the qualifying project may be added, and which is not subject to the quota established under section 17 of chapter 138.  

SECTION 2.  The licensing authority of a city of town may grant an umbrella license to an owner of a qualifying project subject to the approval of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC). The licensing authority may grant restricted project-based licenses pursuant to section 12 of chapter 138 to applicants operating within a qualifying project that is in possession of an umbrella restricted project-based license, subject to the approval of the alcoholic beverages control commission. The licensing board shall not approve the addition of licensees operating outside of the qualifying project and shall not approve the transfer of such umbrella license to a location outside of the qualifying project.  An umbrella license or any of its restricted project-based licenses shall be nontransferable to any person, corporation, or organization operating outside of the qualifying project or alternate location within qualifying project and shall be marked as such on its face.  Notwithstanding this paragraph or any other special or general law to the contrary, umbrella licenses or restricted project-based licenses shall not be subject to or counted against the municipal quota set forth in section 17 of chapter 138. An umbrella license or a restricted project-based license issued under this paragraph, if cancelled, revoked, or no longer in use at the location of original issuance, shall be returned physically, with all the legal rights, privileges and restrictions pertaining thereto, to the licensing board.

A city or town that wishes to opt into this section may do so by adopting an ordinance or by-law through the local legislative body. 

The owner of a qualifying project shall pay a licensing fee of $150,000 for the umbrella license to be paid within 30 days after the award of the license.