Community Board 2 reviews multiple liquor-license and outdoor-dining applications across West Village and Chelsea

Community Board 2’s licensing committee heard applicants and neighbors discuss a string of on‑premises liquor-license applications and proposed sidewalk/roadway dining plans at a meeting where the State Liquor Authority (SLA), DOT roadway/dining approvals and FDNY waivers repeatedly came up.

The committee reviewed applications for a beer-and-wine license for Yakitori West Village at 282 Bleecker Street; a full-liquor application for Moon and Back (365 Thai Inc.) at 117 W. 10th Street; municipal-alteration (sidewalk and roadway) applications tied to Dante (79–81 McDougall Street) and SADA 1 LLC (230 W. 4th Street); an asset-sale on‑premises application for 86 Bedford LLC; a full-liquor application for 1 Little West 12th Street; and a karaoke concept proposed for 248 W. 14th Street (Beatbox). Applicants described operations, hours, seating and delivery practices; neighbors repeatedly asked for earlier weekday closing, limits on outdoor sound and controls on queuing and curbside pickups.

Why this matters: The meeting illustrated ongoing tensions between neighborhood quality‑of‑life concerns and the city’s post‑pandemic outdoor dining programs. Many applications require separate DOT or FDNY approvals for sidewalk or roadway dining; neighbors and the committee emphasized that final outdoor seating and access must conform to DOT plans and ADA requirements.

Yakitori West Village: applicant said operations would be 12 p.m.–12 a.m., seven days, with beer-and-wine service, 50 seats and background music only. Sam, the applicant, told the committee the business is a Japanese izakaya concept and expects “background music only and no outdoor seating.” Cathy Ornsen of the Central Village Block Association urged a 11…