Select Board tables Essex Tech’s Larkin Event Center liquor and entertainment license applications after extensive neighborhood concerns

Select Board members on May 8 opened a public hearing on a request from Larkin Event Center LLC, the entity operating the new Larkin Event Center at Essex Agricultural & Technical School, for a full all‑alcohol common victualler (liquor) license and a seven‑day entertainment license and then voted to table both matters to the board’s June 3 meeting.

The hearing drew lengthy public comment from abutters and Select Board members with concerns about proximity to an active high school campus, parking and traffic flow, control and storage of alcohol on school property, the role of outside caterers and bartenders, and the adequacy of materials submitted with the application.

Why it matters: The Larkin Event Center is a new multiuse hospitality training and event space built by students at Essex Tech. The school and its partners are asking for a standing liquor license to avoid repeatedly filing one‑day license requests for recurring events; neighbors and some board members said the use could become a frequent commercial venue with outsized impacts on a residential area.

Missing application items and regulatory question: Select Board members and the town clerk pointed to at least three items the board’s regulations require that were not clearly provided in the packet: a complete…