Wilmington Select Board Adopts Alcohol Fee Schedule, Elects to Add Vice Chair

WILMINGTON — June 8, 2026 — Wilmington Select Board adopts a new alcohol license fee schedule and approves governance policy changes at its June 8 meeting. The board unanimously adopted the fee schedule as a standalone document — separating fees from the alcohol rules and regulations to allow future adjustments without a full public hearing — keeping the club license at $1,000, up from $250 for the first time since at least the 1970s, with package store licenses at $2,250 and full-service restaurant licenses at $2,500. A motion by member Frank De Palma to reduce the club fee to $500, citing the civic value of the Knights of Columbus and Shriners, failed for lack of a second. The board also amended its newly adopted policies and procedures to create a formally elected vice chair position and retain a public comment period at the chair's discretion. A public hearing on relocating four utility poles on Salem Street — part of a MassDOT widening tied to traffic mitigation for the Amazon facility at 800 Salem Street — was continued to June 22 after three abutters raised concerns about a double pole, property line discrepancies, and a septic system potentially in the path of a new pole. During public comment, resident Rob Fasulo called on the board to convene a Special Town Meeting to ban data centers, citing a planned MWRA capacity increase of two million gallons per day and a new Reading Municipal Light substation as signs the groundwork is being laid for one.