Harford Community College gets liquor license

Harford Community College will be allowed to serve beer and wine at events held in four buildings on its campus, after Harford County's Liquor Control Board approved a special liquor license for the college Wednesday.The new Class CC license, which was made possible by a state law passed in the 2016 Maryland General Assembly session, will let the Bel Air college offer beer and wine at the APG Federal Credit Union Arena, the Chesapeake Center, the Hays-Heighe House and the Student Center, Eric McLauchlin, a lawyer representing the college, explained during a liquor board meeting in Bel Air.The new law allows the college to receive a master license for beer and wine sales at third-party events held on the campus, up to 25 per year. The license would not apply to school events or athletic events held on the campus.Another law passed by the legislature earlier this year allows alcoholic beverage licenses to be granted for entities between 300 feet and 1,000 feet from a school, liquor board administrator Pilar Gracia noted. The liquor board must give such approvals, if the location is less than 1,000 feet from a school.The arena is 815 feet from John Archer School and 623 feet from Harford Technical High School, for example, McLauchlin noted.&quot;The licensee itself is an educational institution,&quot; he said, explaining that, although Harford is alone among state community colleges in having such an large arena, larger colleges that have arenas in the state are permitted to serve alcohol at events.The college will be required to post signs at events informing the public of the alcohol-related rules, such as requiring photo ID to be presented.College employees on the license application include Vice President for External Relations & Human Resources Brenda Morrison, Arena General Manager Stacy Rutherford, Vice President of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness and Title IX Coordinator Deborah Cruise and Dining Services Coordinator Tammy Dowell.Richard Norling, chairman of the HCC Board of Trustees, was present at Wednesday's meeting to show the trustees support for the license, McLauchlin said.The liquor board was supportive of the college's effort to get the necessary legislation passed in Annapolis to authorize the new class of license, and liquor board members were unanimous in approving it.Chairman Michael Thomson said his only request is that the college leaders, who recently hired a new president, understand their responsibility so future employees continue to communicate with the board.&quot;We all welcome you guys serving the community in this way,&quot; Thomson said.Ocean City Brewing Co.The liquor board was ambivalent about another matter it considered Wednesday, a request by owners of Abingdon's Ocean City Brewing Company to change their beer, wine and liquor license to a Class D, or tavern, license, so customers can take the restaurant's beers home in growlers.Ocean City Brewing Company, which is based in Ocean City and also just opened a restaurant in Reisterstown, has been in the Boulevard at Box Hill for less than a year.Owner Donna Shores told the liquor board she gets requests daily from customers who want to take alcohol home in growlers, which is not allowed under their current license. Under a state law passed in 2014, some Harford establishments, including retail alcohol sales outlets, are permitted to sell beer in customers' refillable containers, commonly called growlers.The refillable containers are permitted for Class A-1 retail, Class D tavern and Class A-1 restaurant licenses, the latter with off-sale beer and wine or beer, wine and liquor. Any of those license holders that want to refill growlers still need to obtain the separate permit from the liquor board.The permits allow customers to bring in growlers from any retailer or company, but the container must be between 32 and 128 ounces, be sealable, have an identifying mark of the seller, carry a federal health warning statement required for alcohol containers, display instructions for cleaning the container and have a label stating that the consumer is responsible for cleaning it and consuming the contents within 48 hours. Businesses pay $50 for the annual permit to dispense to growlers. The beer may be dispensed between 8 a.m. and midnight.Shores' lawyer, David Mister, reassured the board that the business is not trying to become mostly a bar or a packaged goods store, by selling a variety of alcohol.The board, however, did not take action on the request. Toward the end of the meeting, Thomson asked Mike Scheuerman, owner of Friendship Wine & Liquor, which is across Route 924 from Ocean City Brewing, for his opinion on the matter. Friendship has been dispensing beer in growlers since the law permitting them took effect.Scheuerman, who was attending the meeting to get an outside event application for his annual craft beer festival, said he has concerns that request would open the door to Ocean City Brewing &quot;having vodka to go,&quot; for example.Scheuerman said he would like some safeguards to make sure the restaurant does not turn into a liquor store, although he noted &quot;we are good neighbors&quot; with them.Boxcar RestaurantA new restaurant near the MARC station in Edgewood also received a liquor license Wednesday.Boxcar Restaurant, which opened in April on Old Edgewood Road across from the station, was approved for a beer and wine license. The restaurant was previously Edgewood Station and, before that, Clarence's Taste of New Orleans.The business is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and 11 p.m. to 9 p.m. the rest of the week, applicant Valaria Johnson said.She was applying for the license along with Dea Galloway, Gregory Kitt, Mary Kitt and Terence Minor.The restaurant offers brunch on the weekends and also does catering, Johnson said.

Harford Community College gets liquor license

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