A Select Board hearing to expand the hours for the Cider Barn at Carlson Orchards ended with Franklyn Carlson and his attorney John P. Connell getting only some of what they asked for. Discussion on a proposed new 100-person serving tent to be positioned behind the apple storage building and near a small pond was postponed due to insufficient notice to abutters.
After hearing public comment both for and against the expanded hours, the board voted unanimously to allow the Cider Barn to be open for two additional days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday), but with closing time set at 6 p.m., not 8 p.m. as Carlson had requested. It also voted to change the closing time on Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Cider Barn is a popular destination for residents and out-of-town visitors alike. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Under the current license, the Cider Barn is open four days a week from 11 a.m., Thursday through Sunday, plus holiday Mondays. Closing time is 6 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday and 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
According to Connell, Carlson wants to “market the corporate events for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not as daily operations.” Weekends, Carlson noted, were already busy enough, but Tuesday and Wednesday could “double the availability” of non-weekend business outings. Chair Stu Sklar asked whether the board might limit Tuesday and Wednesday operations to such events, but Connell asserted that select boards lacked that level of control, so the board backed away from trying to set the condition.
The favorable vote followed a roughly equal number of positive and negative comments from the public about amending the schedule, though Sklar alluded to negative feedback leading up to the hearing. “I’ve heard an earful from neighbors about expansion of hours,” he said.
In other business related to Carlson Orchards, Sklar unveiled a traffic plan he had worked out with Sgt. James Babu of the Harvard Police Department, with the help of board member Rich Maiore and Carlson. Last year, traffic jams on Oak Hill Road and reportedly objectionable behavior by some visitors to the orchard prompted a pledge from Maiore to work on a solution before the 2021 harvest season began. The traffic plan specifies a one-way route for vehicles exiting the orchard in the hope of guiding them away from bottlenecks in the Oak Hill Road neighborhood.
The new hours approved Tuesday by the Select Board must be accepted by the state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission before they can go into effect.
