The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved two club liquor licenses for the Duxbury Yacht Club this week; the application for a third license is pending due to problems advertising the related public hearing.

The first license is for the golf clubhouse at 70 Fairway Ln. The second is for 489 Washington St., a private home the yacht club bought last year to expand its facility at Mattakeeset Court. The third license will be for the yacht club’s waterfront clubhouse. The location of this building was misidentified in the advertisements for the license hearing, and this typo prevented selectmen from discussing it on Monday.

A club license is a regular liquor license reserved for private clubs.

Douglas Hart, the alcohol manager for the Yacht Club, said the club applied for a liquor license in order to avoid the paperwork required by the 30 one-day liquor licenses used by the club for its various events each year. He said there will not be any changes at the yacht club to include a restaurant or bar.

“No we will not have a pub and there will be no bar,” said Hart. “There will be no change in how we use the facility. This license will just streamline the paperwork.”

Neighbors of the yacht club facilities voiced some concerns, but no one objected to the liquor licenses.

Selectman Shawn Dahlen said John Balboni of Long Point Lane, a neighbor for the last 34 years, submitted a letter in which he stated he was concerned that with the Yacht Club’s addition of what is known as the Fitzgibbon’s House at 489 Washington St. the club would change its activities and include more year-round events.

Dahlen responded that if neighbors had problems they should report them to selectmen because liquor licenses are renewed annually and can be revoked.

Carla Moss of Surplus Street is an abutter to the yacht club’s golf course. She said she has never had any problems with the club, but worried that with addition of a liquor license events at the golf club house might generate more noise than in the past.

“I don’t care if they have a bar for golfers,” said Moss. “I don’t care if they have a lot of functions as long as they don’t have a lot of noise. Just think of the neighbors whatever you do.”

Former Yacht Club Commodore Phyllis Gleason reassured Moss that the Club had policies and restrictions that would not change with the addition of the liquor license. She said that events at which liquor is served are for adults only, that food must be served at these functions, and that the events were limited in their attendance, as they were by reservation only. 

“We do not intend to change our practices, just the procedure,” said Gleason.

The public hearing for the third Yacht Club liquor license will be April 30.