Cranston council approves liquor-license transfer, confirms new fire chief; residents press council on gun-range noise and road closure

Cranston — The Cranston City Council on Monday unanimously approved a conditional transfer of a Class B liquor license for a restaurant at 3000 Chapel View Boulevard and a related new victualler license, gave advice and consent to Mayor Hopkins’ appointment of Daniel Marcinko as the city’s next fire chief, and heard competing public testimony about the closure of Honeysuckle Drive and repeated complaints about gunfire noise from the city’s police firing range.

The council approved the license transfer from Chapel Restaurant LLC (doing business as Chapel Grill) to the applicant doing business as Searcy Prime Italian Steakhouse, but only after accepting two objection letters into the record and adding conditions that must be met before the license is issued. The transfer motion and a separate motion to grant a new victualler/victorian license both passed on roll-call votes.

Why it matters: The license decisions affect a high-profile restaurant’s ability to operate in Cranston, while the public comments about the gun range and the Honeysuckle Drive closure underscore two neighborhood-level safety and quality‑of‑life disputes that residents and the council say they are still working to resolve.

The liquor-license transfer and objections

Under public hearings the committee considered a request to transfer a Class B liquor license for the business at 3000 Chapel View Boulevard. The clerk reported there were two objection letters submitted after publication of the docket. A solicitor asked that the committee “accept these two objections ... and place [them] into the record.” The committee voted to accept the letters.

The two communications entered into the record were described in committee as: (1) a Jan. 23, 2025, letter from Sanappi Law Associates signed by attorney Gregory Mancini asserting two clients are owed $1,496 and $2,648; and (2) a Jan. 21, 2025, letter from attorney Paul Pisano stating his clients MS Walker of Rhode Island, Inc. are owed $3,236.49 and Johnson Brothers of Rhode Island are owed $2,956.13. The council then amended and approved a motion to grant the transfer…