The Alcohol Beverage Board for St. Mary’s County conditionally approved on Feb. 8 an application by Thomas F. McKay to open Brenton Bay Fine Wines and Liquors, a Class A1 off‑sale beer, wine and liquor store, in a new freestanding building adjacent to the Bridal Bay shopping center in Leonardtown.

Attorney Michael Davis presented the conditional application, telling the board the request is for approval to build a roughly 4,000‑square‑foot separate retail building planned on a grassy expansion area next to an existing grocery store. McKay said the site has planning‑commission support and that the business will emphasize a wide wine selection, including Maryland wines. He said construction and permitting remained incomplete and asked for conditional approval to allow the landlord to proceed with building.

Town officials and the planning commission spoke in favor: Leonardtown representatives said the council unanimously supported the application as a contribution to downtown retail revitalization and noted a recently lost supermarket left a gap the new center seeks to address.

Opposition included written protests and public testimony at the hearing. Board staff entered 33 written protests into the record and two residents spoke in person, saying Leonardtown’s population did not support another liquor store and warning existing small businesses could be hurt. One speaker noted there are multiple nearby alcohol outlets and argued local economy and employment could suffer.

Board members discussed statutory restrictions on licenses associated with supermarkets and chain stores and asked whether an internal doorway between the grocery and the liquor store would create a disqualifying “in conjunction with” relationship under Maryland law (Article 2B §9‑102). McKay said the plan submitted contained no interior access; the planning commission had suggested considering a shared entrance but the submitted drawings showed separate businesses sharing a common wall with no connecting door.

After discussion, a board member moved to grant conditional approval as drawn (with no interior door shown) and to allow a 180‑day period for construction and agency approvals. The motion was seconded and carried; the board noted the approval was conditional on the applicant meeting all agency approvals and filing deadlines. The board also said any future plan to add an interior door would require returning for board approval.

The board recorded the conditional approval by motion, with no members publicly recorded as opposing. The applicants and counsel were instructed to supply any requested precedent material (for example, examples involving Wegmans-style configurations) to board counsel for later reference.