City plan would add dozens of new liquor licenses for small restaurants - and giant South Bay, Seaport projects

Mayor Walsh and City Councilor Ayanna Pressley today unveiled a proposal to add 152 new liquor licenses aimed mainly at helping out start-up restaurants in outer neighborhoods.

But their proposal, which would require approval by the state legislature and the governor, would also grant the city the power to give an "umbrella" license to any development of more than 500,000 square feet, such as the South Bay Town Center project now under construction in Dorchester and the Seaport Square development in South Boston.

The development owners could then dole out as many sub-licenses as they wanted - subject to city approval - without affecting the licenses available elsewhere in the city. This is currently how liquor licenses are doled out at Logan Airport.

Last year, the City Council proposed seeking legislative approval for 12 liquor licenses for South Bay and 3 for Seaport Square.

The new licenses would be on top of the 75 licenses the city won approval in 2014 to grant.

Under Walsh's and Pressley's proposal, 105 new licenses would be set aside specifically for Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Mission Hill and Roxbury - with the provision that if any of the neighborhood-specific licenses went unclaimed after a three-year rollout period, they would be held by the Boston Licensing Board for the specific neighborhoods until they can be dole out.

Another 15 licenses would be available over three years in "Main Street" districts outside those neighborhoods, for example, Roslindale Square and Centre Street in West Roxbury. Some 30 more licenses would be available for the rest of the city - but only 9 could be used in the liquored up neighborhoods of Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the North End.

The proposal would also grant a liquor license to the Lawn on D and one to the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.

In a statement, Walsh said:

This balanced approach to licensing ensures neighborhoods historically disadvantaged by the liquor license process will receive their fair share of licenses, while also providing an option for larger establishments to receive licenses without hurting our small businesses.