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Middletown council waives 30-day notice for Taco Factory liquor application after mayor outlines consent criteria
Summary
The City Council voted to waive the 30-day municipal-notice requirement for a full liquor-license application for the Taco Factory. Mayor and staff described criteria for such municipal requests, including written consent from affected churches and guidelines on food-to-alcohol sales, but formal policy adoption by the council was not completed.
The Middletown City Council voted to waive the 30-day notification requirement for a full liquor-license application for the Taco Factory, approving the waiver by roll call vote.
Mayor (President) Rodriguez told the council the waiver option arose after state changes allowing municipalities to petition on behalf of longtime downtown businesses when impacted churches or schools agree in writing. He said the state path is special legislation that must pass the Assembly and Senate and be signed by the governor, not the regular New York State Liquor Authority application process.
Rodriguez said city staff developed a set of criteria to guide municipal requests and anticipated sharing the criteria with the council for consideration as a formal policy. He said the draft criteria include that applicants be longstanding businesses (the mayor referenced about a five‑year track record), that 80 percent of sales be food rather than alcohol and that operating hours and other limits be part of the evaluation. He emphasized that the churches directly affected must submit written consent for the city to proceed with a request on an individual business’s behalf.
Alderman Green sponsored the resolution to waive the 30‑day notification requirement for the Taco Factory; Alderman Kleiner seconded. The roll call recorded votes of aye from Aldermen Tobin, Jean Francois, Johnson, Ray, Kleiner, Green, Witt, Massey and President Rodriguez; the measure carried.
Rodriguez identified three downtown businesses that could benefit from the state option—Piccolo’s, Taco Factory and Hook and Read—and thanked state lawmakers who assisted, naming Senator Scoofus, Assemblywoman Kaye and Governor Hochul. He said the special‑legislation route is brought by a state legislator on behalf of the individual business owner and that the city’s written contact and the churches’ written consent are required parts of that process.
The council action on Wednesday was limited to waiving the local 30‑day notice; the council did not adopt a formal municipal policy during the meeting. The mayor indicated staff would circulate the proposed criteria and recommended the council consider adopting them going forward.
If the city files a request under the special legislation route, the mayor said the state legislator “carries the bill” and the matter moves through Albany rather than through a standard New York State Liquor Authority application.
Votes and next steps: the waiver passed on a unanimous roll call. The mayor and staff said they will finalize and distribute the draft municipal criteria to the council; no specific council vote to adopt those criteria was taken at the meeting.
