Acton Select Board Denies Rapscallion License Expansion, Continues Trader Joe's Delivery Hearing

ACTON -- May 8, 2017, Acton's Select Board rejected an entertainment license expansion for a Strawberry Hill Road brewery and delayed a decision on early delivery hours for Trader Joe's at Brookside Shops. The board voted unanimously May 8 to deny an application by Concord Brewery LLC, doing business as Rapscallion, to add Sunday afternoon music hours and extend Thursday music to 5 p.m., after neighbors testified that windows shook, tenants had moved out, and music had been played on Sundays and other days outside the restaurant's permitted Thursday-night acoustic-music license. Town Counsel Jessica Wall cited Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140, Section 183A; the board's finding of denial rested on the noise standard and the restaurant's history of operating outside its license terms. In a separate hearing, Trader Joe's captain Mark Belanger acknowledged trucks had historically been unloaded as early as 4 a.m. despite a 6:30 a.m. delivery restriction in the Brookside Shops site plan permit, a violation neighbors say has continued for 13 years. The board voted unanimously to continue that hearing to July 24, 2017, after new mall ownership represented by attorney Lou Levine committed to installing security cameras, an eight-foot fence, and motion-sensor lighting but could not persuade neighbors the improvements had been completed.