Show cause hearing causing headaches for Saugus selectmen

SAUGUS – The Board of Selectmen will hold a show cause hearing on Tonino’s Cucina Italiana Tuesday but it might be over before it even gets started.Selectman Stephen Castinetti admitted the issues surrounding three different entities, two liquor licenses and one restaurant location was proving to be a complicated mess and he isn’t sure who will end up sorting it out.”We’re holding the show cause hearing but I’m not sure what, if anything, we can do,” he said. “At this point our hands might be tied.”At issue is the site of the former Tonino’s Restaurant, tucked in between the White Hen Pantry and Harts Hardware Store in the plaza on Hamilton Street. The original owners of Tonino’s ceased doing business a few years ago, though the sign over the door still hangs.Sandy Esperanza took over the Italian eatery in March 2007, calling it La Esperanza. He applied for and received a permit to serve beer and wine and cordials and liqueurs. He did not have an all alcohol license, however.Castinetti said by May 2008 Esperanza ceased doing business and shortly thereafter, unbeknownst to the board, his assets were being auctioned off.Despite his turn of bad luck, Castinetti said Esperanza renewed the liquor license in December with the idea that he would go back into business elsewhere.However, in the meantime, the property owner put a lien on the liquor license while Esperanza filed for bankruptcy, which has effectively frozen all assets including the liquor license.Caught in the middle of all this is La Vita Mia.On March 10 La Vita Mia went up against “Twitter,” a new restaurant that will be opening in the Square One Mall, for the all alcohol license that became available when the owners of The Oasis let their license lapse.The board voted to give La Vita Mia the license largely because it is a local business in good standing that has been operating for nearly 13 years without a problem.The plan was that La Vita Mia’s owners were going to relocate to the Tonino’s site and wanted to bring the all alcohol license along as part of their new expansion.The problem is that technically the Tonino’s site still has the beer and wine and cordial license attached to it.”And the ABCC (Alcohol Beverage Control Commission) only allows one license per business,” Castinetti said.So unless the board can revoke the license or Esperanza transfers it to a new location, which would require the approval of the board, La Vita Mia cannot move into the Hamilton Street space.Castinetti said Town Counsel is checking to see if the board has the rights to revoke the license but he suspects the answer will be no.”At this point I think our hands will be tied,” he said. “What a mess. This is tying up the property owner, La Vita Mia and us. We’ll hold the show cause but I think it will be a short meeting.”