PORTSMOUTH — About 100 people expecting to hear a continuation of Greenvale Vineyard’s hearing on its application for a special use permit were sent home early from Town Hall Thursday night because the Zoning Board of Review could not reach a quorum.

Only four members of the zoning board were in their chairs when the meeting began: Chairman James. E. Edwards, John G. Borden, James Nott and Kathleen T. Pavlakis.

Mr. Edwards said board member James Hall had surgery earlier that day and was not able to make the meeting. Since Mr. Edwards had sat during the first night of the hearing on Greenvale’s application Nov. 5, he needed to be present for a decision to be rendered, Mr. Edwards said.

“For those reasons we’re going to fall one short of a quorum. There will be no meeting tonight,” he said.

The board continued the hearing to its next regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17.

Several other applications were also on Tuesday's zoning board agenda; they were postponed until Dec. 10.

Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned at 7:04 p.m. — only four minutes after it began — and the crowd started streaming toward the exits.

Greenvale Vineyards has applied for a special use permit so it can continue to host weddings, small concerts, corporate events and other events at the 73-acre farm.

Nancy Parker Wilson, general manager of Greenvale whose family has owned the farm since 1863 and has been growing grapes there since the mid-1990s, is seeking the permit in the wake of a change to the zoning ordinance made by the Town Council in June. The amendment allows farmers to seek permits before the zoning board to hold special events on their property they say are necessary to keep their businesses economically viable.

On Nov. 5 the zoning board made no decision on the application because it ran out of time. The panel heard from 13 residents, most of whom testified in favor of the vineyard.

However, after more than three hours there were still some abutters wishing to speak. In addition, the board may hear again from Greenvale’s attorney, David Martland, before voting on the permit.