Council Approves Liquor License Transfer After Agreement Reached on Unpaid Wages

Stuart Mitchner

The issue holding up the transfer of a liquor license was settled quickly at the Princeton Borough Council's April 13th meeting. It is an issue, however, "that remains very much alive," according to Councilman Roger Martindell, who plans to return to it at a future Council meeting.

The issue in question was that the holder of the liquor license, Regato Holdings, LLC, operator of the former Les Copains restaurant on Witherspoon Street, owed back wages to Latino workers. Mr. Martindell, who as a lawyer had represented three former Les Copains employees in claims against the restaurant, recused himself from the Council vote on the license transfer. After Dan Murray, the attorney for Regato Holdings, and David Oakley, representing the workers, informed Council members of the agreed-upon settlement, the Council unanimously approved the transfer of the license to DMV Holdings, Inc. which owns Nassau Street Seafood and Produce Company and the Blue Point Grill.

The settlement was for slightly over a thousand dollars. The estimated cost of the liquor license was $700,000. When asked about the enormity of the sum, Mr. Martindell said the reason the price is so high is two-fold: "We have a small population and therefore fewer licenses (which are issued based on population) and we have a large number of restaurants for such a small population (being a destination town). The law of supply and demand at work."

As reported last week, Mr. Martindell intends to sponsor a Council resolution directing the Borough to prosecute local employers in Borough municipal court for failure to pay hourly employees, as permitted by state law. The problem affects landscape workers as well, he said.

The April 13 Council meeting also heard a complaint about the impact of noise on the quality of life from 13-year-Borough resident Marty Ackerman. The Council agreed that an ordinance be drafted to ban commercial leaf blowers and non-emergency tree removals on Sundays.