Red Bank’s effort to shut down Best Liquors on Leighton Avenue won’t go before an administrative law judge until March 5, nine months after the Borough Council voted to yank the store’s license.
Borough Attorney Tom Hall got word of the scheduling from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division by letter yesterday, he tells redbankgreen.
After hearings in May and June, the council revoked Best’s license effective July 1, for a handful of municipal violations, including sales of beer to minors.
But as is the custom in such cases, the store, owned by Sunny Sharma, has been allowed to remain open while the revocation is appealed.
Since then, the borough has started and stopped an effort to expedite the hearing, based on allegations that a store employee failed to card a beer-buying minor after the revocation. The effort was abandoned after the customer withdrew an allegation that he had not been asked for ID.
Krishna Tyler, a Leighton Avenue neighbor of the store and wife of Republican council candidate John Tyler, is pushing for state legislation to outlaw liquor stores from residential areas. She is scheduled to meet with 12th-District Assemblywoman (and Red Bank resident) Jennifer Beck about the proposal early next month, Tyler tells redbankgreen.
The ABC hearing is scheduled for 9a March 5 before Administrative Law Judge Joseph Martone at the Office of Administrative Law, Quakerbridge Plaza, Bldg. 9 in Mercerville.
