Long Beach City Council mulls sale of alcohol on boardwalk

Will hold public hearing on Tuesday as eateries seek approval to sell booze

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The Long Beach City Council is set to hold a public hearing on Tuesday night as it mulls a request by owners of the new boardwalk eateries to sell alcohol.

As the Herald first reported in November, three owners of the boardwalk concessions are looking to serve beer and other alcoholic beverages in the hope of making their businesses profitable and remaining open throughout the year.

The new concessions, which opened last summer, were only permitted to serve food and non-alcoholic beverages, though an initial request for proposals had stated that the city could allow the sale and consumption of alcohol at certain locations.


Sean Sullivan, owner of Beach Local Café, at Grand Boulevard; Greg LaPenna, owner of Shakes & Shuckers, at Lincoln Boulevard; and Brian Braddish, owner of Riptides, at Edwards Boulevard, are seeking permission from the city, which owns and rents the spaces, to renegotiate their five-year lease agreements and apply for state liquor licenses in response to customer demand and in order to boost revenue.

Concession owners have offered to restrict beverage service to those 23 and older; maintain restricted hours of operation and close at 10 p.m.; hire security guards to maintain safety; and not advertise the sale of alcohol. They have also proposed not serving alcohol in bottles or glass, placing signs detailing open container laws at all concession exits and listing open container fines, among other proposals.

“After speaking to multiple residents and community leaders, the list that we put together are just suggestions as to how we might make this work best for everyone,” Sullivan told the Herald last month.

At Tuesday's meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, the council will consider amending the city’s code of ordinances to allow for the limited sale of alcoholic beverages at the concession stands, with strict terms and conditions to be included in the lease agreements.

The proposal states that any eatery situated adjacent to the north boundary of the beach park, or on the beach, may be permitted to serve alcoholic beverages, subject to the terms and conditions set by the city.

The proposed ordinance also states that “no person, firm or corporation shall place, or cause to be placed, any table or chair anywhere on the boardwalk,” other than the benches placed there by the city.

“In the event a concession stand should be permitted to serve alcoholic beverages, the city shall have the authority to issue such rules regulating attendant quality-of-life issues associated with concession stand service of alcoholic beverages, as it deems fit,” the amendment states.

Under the new rule, establishments serving food or beverages would also be required to post a notice clearly indicating prices “in a conspicuous place clearly legible and visible to customers making purchases.” Penalties for violating the agreement could result in the city shutting a business down.

The owners had called on the city last month to hold a public hearing so that they may present their proposal to residents. Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford also called for a public hearing, and said last month that she had heard from business owners and residents who both support and oppose the idea.

The move is opposed by Long Beach AWARE, formerly known as the Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing underage drinking and drug abuse in town.

“The research says that the more outlets you have in a community, the more underage drinking you have, and we’re way beyond that tipping point,” Judi Vining, executive director of Long Beach AWARE, told the Herald in November.

Vining said that that there are already more than 90 establishments in Long Beach that sell alcohol, and has said that allowing alcohol sales on the boardwalk would send the wrong message to kids — and that the concession operators won the leases “fully knowing that there would be no alcohol allowed to be sold.”

Owners have said that the city agreed to revisit the request to sell alcohol after the summer season. Sullivan said it would be up to the SLA to grant the licenses, and concession owners would work with the city to restrict alcohol use on the boardwalk.

He told the Herald that he, LaPenna and Braddish invested heavily in renovations last year, installing commercial kitchens, plumbing and fire alarms, which delayed their openings until later in the summer.

“If you go to Rockaway, if you go to Jones Beach or any beach on the Ocean Parkway — every place but Long Beach — someone who is of age can buy something to drink,” Sullivan said in November. “We’re trying to make it a cool place to go and have dinner, and watch the sunset on the boardwalk. The thing that people asked for the most all summer long was exactly that — something to drink with dinner.”