Over neighbors’ objections, licensing board approves new beer and wine licenses

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — Despite concerns about parking and numerous protests from Woodlawn residents, the City Council’s Board of License Commissioners approved a beer and wine license for Rosa’s Kitchen at 757 Main St. on Wednesday night.

At a public hearing that was continued from two weeks ago, the board once again took up the request from J & K Restaurant, Inc., the owners of Rosa’s Kitchen. Kathy Santos, whose parents own the eatery, had told the board that they want to serve beer and wine to lunch and dinner customers in order to be able to compete more effectively in the current economy.
This week, the board resumed discussions about whether or not there was adequate parking for the 34-customer eatery. At the last meeting, Suzanne Mailhot, president of the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, had cited a city ordinance stating that for new liquor licenses to be granted, the premises must have one parking space for each four patrons. With barely five spaces in a small lot, she maintained that Rosa’s did not meet this requirement.
However, City Planning Director Michael Cassidy told the board that Rosa’s, because of being an existing business, is “grandfathered” in as far as the ordinance goes, and said he doesn’t consider the granting of a beer and wine license to be a “change of use” for the eatery.
Attorney George Hovarth, representing the Lopes family who own Rosa’s, also argued that there are several other restaurants and bars throughout the city that serve beer, wine and other spirits and do not have “adequate parking” as  described in the ordinance. He cited the Heritage Tap as being one example of a place that has a full liquor license and which has only on-street parking in the residential neighborhood.
Besides parking issues, several other Woodlawn residents addressed the board with concerns that the availability of alcohol will cause an increase in crime and further deterioration of a neighborhood that they said is already on the fringe of drug and gang-related activity.
However, several councilors spoke in favor of the plan, saying that since the parking was not applicable, the owners of Rosa’s Kitchen should be given the chance to operate with a beer and wine license. Councilors Albert Vitali Jr. and Jean Philippe Barros were the strongest advocates, maintaining that numerous other neighborhood establishments in the city — many much larger than Rosa’s — are allowed to sell beer and wine.
Councilor Lorenzo Tetreault said he had spoken to the Pawtucket Police about crime in the neighborhood and was told that the police had never been called to Rosa’s Kitchen for any incident. Councilor David Moran also voiced support for granting the license, saying that it can always be revoked if problems develop.
Saying that this decision was “a tough one,” Councilor Henry Kinch Jr. said the limited parking and the neighbors’ concerns convinced him to vote against the request. Councilors Thomas Hodge and John Barry III also said they were opposed.
Councilor Paul Wildenhain, however, said the example of the Heritage Tap took the parking concerns out of the mix for him and he cast the deciding vote in favor of the request. The license was approved by a 5 to 4 margin.
Also on Wednesday, the board unanimously approved a beer and wine license for another applicant, the La Arepa restaurant at 574 Smithfield Ave.
At the last public hearing, owner Jorge Garcia also told the board that he wanted to be able to serve beer and wine with lunches and dinners at his Venezulean-style restaurant to increase business. No one had spoke in opposition to this request, but the parking question had also been raised by Councilor Barros and the decision was also tabled.
Since that time, Garcia said he had arranged for the use of a dozen additional parking spaces in the strip mall where his eatery is located.