Residents Come Out For and Against Splitsville Proposal

Seven days after a vote by the selectmen to deny Splitsville a liquor license ignited strong feelings from the town of Foxboro, residents appeared at citizen's input at the start of the selectmen’s Nov. 12 meeting to make the case for and against Splitsville in Foxboro.

Speaking on behalf of the supporters of Splitsville, who took up the majority of seats  at the meeting, resident Ellen Garber said a petition that has started to circulate over the past 24 hour has already gathered 200 signatures from residents. Efforts to add more names to the petition are expected to increase in the next few days.

“We respectfully request that the Board of Selectmen reconsider its decision made after the hearing on November 5 2013 to deny the application of Splitsville Luxury Lanes for the transfer of a liquor license from the Dana Farber Field House and approve the Application in a timely manner,” Garber said, reading from a prewritten statement.

The request, according to the statement was made based off of four points:

• Splitsville has proposed a $4.5 million investment in a new entertainment establishment which is estimated to proved between $75,000 to $100,000 in annual local tax revenue and create up to 125 local jobs
• Splitsville, is a well respected business with operations throughout the United States including one in family oriented Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida.
• Police Chief O’Leary visited Splitsville location and mitigated a public safety plan and funding with Splitsville and Patriot Place have agreed to.
• Public input during the two separate meetings of the application hearing was 100% in favor of the application.

The statement also asked the board to hold a special public meeting to reconsider the application and overturn the previous decision.

Giving a counterpoint, resident Larry Thomas expressed support for the license denial and felt that many in town are not aware of what Splitsville really is.

“I think there is a lot of confusion in the community. There’s a lot of people who thought you (selectmen) voted against a boutique bowling alley when what really happened was you voted against a really large scale bar,” Thomas said. “When I talk to people and explain that, people typically say ‘now I understand.’”

Officials for Splitsville have said in previous meetings that they expect 75 percent of their business to be bowling and food and 25 percent to be alcohol sales.

Thomas also referred to the 24J Report originally mentioned by selectman Lorraine Brue at the Oct. 29 meeting of the selectmen. The report refers to a law that says that anyone convicted of an OUI must say where they got their final drink before their arrest. According to the report, 38 people said Foxboro since September 2012.

Towns with similar numbers include Peabody, Chicopee, Springfield, Lowell, and Plymouth.

Explaining the number for those who felt they sounded low, Thomas cited a study by Mothers Against Drunk Driving showing that people drink and drive an average of 87 times before getting caught.

Resident Stephanie McGowan however, argued that the board should look at which establishment those 38 people had their last drink at rather than assuming it all took place on Route 1.

With discussions on alcohol appearing on 30 percent of selectmen agendas in the past year, Thomas also said he would like to see a focuses on other issues such as the development of the downtown business area.

“The highest priority to the people of Foxboro is the development of the downtown business district. “I never hear people talk about what is acknowledged to be the most important issue on people’s minds,” Thomas said, referring to the town’s master plan that called the development of the area one of the town’s biggest issues.

While Thomas did say the town as been accommodating for the Kraft Group with the construction of Gillette Stadium and the petition to the state for 12 more liquor licenses at Patriot Place, he finished by looking at issues he felt the town could deal with if not for the focus on alcohol related issues.

“Imagine if we could just spend all that time working on a new town hall, working on downtown. I think these are important issues that we lose and we tend to really enamored on the development part of Route 1 and we don’t think though all of the ramifications,” Thomas said,

Due to the rules of citizen’s input, the board can only listen and cannot respond to any of the speakers. Chairman Mark Sullivan said members of the board would speak on the issue during their next meeting on Nov. 26.