The Town of New Shoreham Board of License Commissioners voted on a broad slate of liquor and outdoor-entertainment license renewals during a public hearing that opened shortly after 4 p.m. The board approved renewals for grocery/liquor retailers, inns and restaurants after routine checks of site plans, consumption-area maps and police recommendations.

The renewals covered Class A, B and BV categories and included licenses for Macklock Enterprises (doing business as Block Island Grocery), Redbird Liquor Store, Aldo's Place, Atlantic Inn (Two Tickets Management), the Block Island Beach House, Champlain's (Great Salt Pond Marina), Dead Eye Dicks (Island Caterers), Eli's Restaurant, KSR Enterprises (Narragansett Inn), the National Hotel, and many other local food-and-beverage businesses. Several renewals were approved subject to existing site-plan language, outstanding documentation and fees.

Why it matters: these routine renewals allow seasonal businesses to operate with established restrictions in place and give the licensing board a chance to confirm that consumption areas, fencing and safety arrangements meet the town's expectations. Staff reminded licensees that events anticipating more than 50 people must have a certified crowd manager on staff and that a rescheduled crowd-manager training will be set.

What the board said: Chair Nancy noted the board would accept motions to approve renewals in blocks and to pull individual items for discussion. In one approval, a commissioner praised the layout and fencing proposed by Sadie Flackman for GSP Productions/Regencia Pizza: "I like the way that you put the fencing in so it's contained in that area," the commissioner said, commending the containment plan for crowd control and service flow.

Police and staff input: the police chief's reports were read into the record for multiple renewals; most reflected no ongoing issues, although the chief did note a small number of calls for some licensees (including reports of underage patrons in one instance) and recommended maintaining stipulations in select cases where past incidents had occurred.

Items continued: the board deferred several contested entertainment-license items — most notably additional stipulations tied to Ballard's Inn — to allow the full council and the police chief to weigh in at a Dec. 1 meeting. The board also continued the Lunch Bucket renewal to Dec. 1 to ensure an applicant representative could appear and to iron out outstanding stipulations.

Next steps: the board set Dec. 1 as the date to revisit continued items; staff said it will attempt to collect written input from the police chief in advance. The public hearing for new outdoor-entertainment applications that had been opened was closed after one applicant withdrew his request and indicated he would reapply next year.

The meeting adjourned after the board moved to continue remaining hearing items to Dec. 1.