177:11 Location of Agency Liquor Stores. –
I. The commission may license an agency liquor store only when the following requirements are met:
(a) The proposed agency liquor store is located in a municipality which has voted in favor of the operation of state liquor stores under RSA 175:7.
(b) The proposed agency liquor store is located in a municipality where there is no state liquor store.
(c) The proposed agency liquor store shall not be within 10 road miles of an existing state liquor store or an existing agency liquor store.
II. The commission may not replace a state liquor store which closes with an agency liquor store, unless the state liquor store was closed under the provisions of RSA 177:2.
III. In the event that a proposed agency liquor store will replace a state liquor store, the commission shall make reasonable efforts to provide state employees other positions, if available.
III-a. In determining the location of a proposed agency store, the commission shall consider its effect on the economy, availability of liquor, and customers within the surrounding relevant market. For the purposes of this section, "surrounding relevant market" means the geographic area that is reasonably intended to be served by the agency store.
IV. The commission shall issue a license for an agency liquor store within a municipality by the following procedure:
(a) The commission shall, in accordance with RSA 541-A, give public notice that agency liquor stores may be established in a particular municipality to serve persons located in that municipality and in the surrounding relevant market. The public notice shall identify the surrounding relevant market that the agency store is intended to serve and all municipalities, or portions thereof, included therein. A copy of the public notice shall at the same time be forwarded by certified mail by the commission to the governing body of the municipality in which the agency store may be established and to the governing bodies of any additional municipalities located, in whole or in part, in the surrounding relevant market that the agency store is intended to serve. The commission shall request all parties in the municipality, interested in establishing an agency liquor store there, to apply to the commission.
(b) The commission shall provide all applicants with the necessary information for the establishment of agency liquor stores.
(c) Upon receipt of all applications for agency liquor stores licenses in a municipality, the commission shall notify the governing body of that municipality and the governing bodies of any additional municipalities located, in whole or in part, in the surrounding relevant market of the proposed location of each applicant and shall suspend all action on such applications for 30 days in order to allow the affected municipalities and any other interested person to submit written comments to the commission on the proposed location of a new agency store in a municipality.
(d) Upon the written request of the governing body of the municipality in which the proposed agency store may be located, or of the governing body of any municipality located in the surrounding relevant market as identified by the commission, that is received by the commission within 14 days of the date of the public notice forwarded to such a municipality under subparagraph (a), the commission shall in accordance with RSA 541-A publish notice and schedule a hearing on the proposed location of an agency store in such municipality. Any public hearing shall be held within 45 days of the close of the public comment period in the municipality in which the agency store may be located.
(e) The commission shall provide written notice by certified mail to all applicants, to the governing body of the municipality in which the agency store is to be located, and to the governing body of any other municipality located in the surrounding relevant market of the final selection of an applicant or applicants, and shall provide any applicant denied a license written notification of the reasons for the denial by certified mail to the mailing address given by the applicant in the application for an agency liquor store license.
(f) The commission shall issue a license to all persons qualifying under the commission's rules.
V. Any applicant aggrieved by a decision made by the commission may appeal the decision in accordance with RSA 541. For purposes of rehearing and appeal, the date of the written notice of final selection of an applicant or applicants shall constitute the decision of the commission.
Source. 1991, 320:3. 2009, 144:127, eff. July 1, 2009.