She has put in time, ingenuity, imagination and tons of money to keep that place going, to keep it afloat, sometimes literally. If we are in a position to help her, doggone it, why wouldn’t we?”

Westport Point resident Beverly Shook, on innkeper Brenda Figuerido and the possible reinstatement of the Paquachuck Inn liquor license.

Assuming the state signs off, Westport Planning Board members will soon have a nice place to go for a glass of bourbon — maybe two — “after a few hours dealing with the good people of Westport.”

It was a joke, but planning board member John Bullard’s comment from the audience was emblematic of the turnout and passion at Monday’s select board meeting, when board members were asked to, and approved, a new full liquor license for the Paquachuck Inn at 2056 Main Road.

“It’s not really about whether (innkeeper Brenda Figuerido) can serve us a glass of wine or whiskey,” Beverly Shook, an abutter, said. “It’s really a larger issue — the conservation of the character of the point.”

“She has put in time, ingenuity, imagination and tons of money to keep that place going, to keep it afloat, sometimes literally. If we are in a position to help her, doggone it, why wouldn’t we?”

Select board members ultimately agreed, though only after some discussion.

Specifically, Figuerido and her attorney, Chad Yates, asked that a liquor license first granted the inn in 2018 be reinstated after it lapsed due to an apparent oversight.

Figuerido told members that she didn’t open during Covid and consequently, the license lapsed. In August 2020, she approached the town to re-apply, brought a check down to town hall and “that was the last I heard of it.”

“So I just assumed” that the renewal had been granted, she said.

But it hadn’t. The license was never re-instated and Paquachuck officials recently reached out to the town to try to correct the issue.

Board members were initially reluctant to give their approval without conditions attached, as the application recently submitted by the inn contained a reference to as many as 79 seats — nearly double the 44 cited in the original liquor license approved by the town in 2018. The application triggered letters from both the zoning board of appeals and the board of health that questioned seating and septic issues, and town manager James Hartnett suggested, and Craig Dutra motioned, that the board approve the license but hold it until “relevant boards have been notified that the use is permitted.”

That would involve the relevant boards signing off on the plan and relaying that information to the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC), which also must approve the license.

But Yates told board members that that extra level of review would cost the inn time — as much as six months to a year — and is not necessary, as he and Figuerido said the use will not change and the terms of the original license haven’t changed.

“It’s the same application” as in 2018, he said. “We’ll keep the same hours, we’ll keep the same days, we won’t increase the size. If it was approved back then, I believe it should be approved the same way tonight.”

He did note that the 79-seat information contained on the renewal application could be stricken — that number likely came from the addition of possible outdoor seating, he said, but stressed that there are no plans to change or increase seating.

Members also wondered if the sign-offs required in the first motion were consistent with precedent, as board member Richard Brewer said that the town did not follow the same path when it approved a wine and malt liquor license for Westport Sea Farms six years ago.

“We had a discussion back and forth and we decided, rightly or wrongly, that those other departments (including health and zoning) do have the authority to weigh in” on license applications, he said. “But we went ahead and approved that license without those ... stipulations. I’m going to go ahead and vote against this motion because it requires something that we did not require of the neighboring business on the point.”

Shortly after, members unanimously rejected the first motion. A second motion by Steve Ouellette, to approve the license with the stipulation that seating on the application be reduced to the original 44, passed unanimously.

“Good luck with the ABCC,” board chairwoman Shana Teas said.