Buckfield Select Board on July 15 approved an amendment adding a single outdoor event to The Bucket's special amusement permit and directed staff to rewrite permit language to align with the business's liquor-license term after multiple residents raised concerns about noise, late hours and bright lights.

Why it matters: Neighbors said recurring late-night events and constant floodlights are disrupting sleep and outdoor family time in a residential area. The board's action accommodates the business owner's request while requiring clearer permit text and a short-term operating limit for the newly added date.

The board voted to amend The Bucket Grill and Pub's existing special amusement permit to include an outdoor event on July 26, 2025, with a start no earlier than 11:00 a.m. and music ending no later than 11:15 p.m. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The board also approved language changes so the special amusement permit will run to match the term of the applicant's current liquor license and asked staff to prepare the revised document for signatures.

Residents at the public hearing urged stricter limits. Paula Sullivan told the board the facility's floodlights "stay on all night, and it just bugs me." Diane Jaselskis told the board the town had gone "from the original request of 3 events, to it was more than 15 last year," and asked the Select Board to clarify whether this year's application sought only four outdoor dates or all events on the 2024 schedule. Rick Jeselskis said, "We're 1,500 feet away. We cannot drown out the music," and described repeated, measured decibel readings near his fence around "86 to 88" decibels at the property line.

Board members and staff discussed two recurring problems: (1) the permit draft mixed indoor and outdoor live-entertainment permissions in ways that confused neighbors and (2) the town ordinance ties a special amusement permit's term to the holder's liquor-license term, which fell out of sync during COVID-era scheduling. Town staff read the ordinance definition aloud during the hearing: "Live entertainment shall mean any music, dancing, amusement, performance, and or exhibition permitted by the licensee on premises of a licensed establishment. Radios, TVs, or other mechanical devices are not considered live entertainment."

Staff and the board said the ordinance requires the special amusement permit to have the same term as the liquor license; that timing mismatch means some requested outdoor dates fall outside the currently effective liquor-license term. The board instructed staff to: (a) prepare a special-amusement permit draft that explicitly separates indoor and outdoor events, (b) update the permit dates so the local permit and state liquor-license term align, and (c) note that any future additions of outdoor dates that were not included in the notifications sent to abutters will require further public notice or another public hearing.

The owner/applicant, Lee Johnson (application on file), and town staff said the scheduling mismatch results largely from state licensing timing and from the business's desire to reserve specific summer dates a year ahead. Board members signaled they are open to revising the ordinance language in the coming months to avoid repeated public hearings and to allow business owners a single annual application window.

What the board did and did not do: The board approved a targeted amendment adding the July 26, 2025 outdoor event with the 11:15 p.m. cut-off and approved moving forward with a permit text aligned to the liquor-license dates. The Select Board did not grant open-ended authorization for additional outdoor dates beyond those appearing in the permit as written and noted that adding dates later would require additional notice or a new hearing. The board did not change town ordinance language during this meeting.

Next steps: Staff will draft and circulate the revised special-amusement permit language that (per board direction) separates indoor and outdoor event rules, updates expiration/term language to match the liquor license, and clarifies the 72-hour notice rule (the board noted 72-hour notice applies to specified indoor live-entertainment allowances in the draft). The board also said it will consider whether to recommend an ordinance amendment next spring to reduce the need for multiple public hearings as licensing calendars normalize.

Residents or abutters who wish to follow the permit redraft were asked to contact town staff (Cameron) for the revised draft prior to final signature.

Ending note: The board framed its action as a compromise: it authorized a single amended date under a clarified cut-off time while requiring staff to rewrite the permit to give the public and the business clearer expectations going forward.