Medford Village East Associates has held two liquor licenses in Medford Township since 2003.
However, not a single drop has ever been served to patrons.
Now, the township is hoping to regain ownership of the two liquor licenses owned by the group.
Medford objected to a renewal of the two licenses by Medford Village East for an additional two years in a brief filed on Oct. 14. The developer has been holding onto the licenses since 2003 in hopes of building a proposed mixed-use project with restaurants.
A prehearing conference on the township’s objection is scheduled for Nov. 14.
Township manager Chris Schultz said the township is simply fed up with Stephen Samost, a principal from Medford Village East, who holds the licenses.
“The township has said, enough is enough,” Schultz said. “You haven’t showed anything that you’re going to be building.”
Medford Village East had proposed a project, named Medford Crossings, along Route 70 in the township. The project has been tied up in litigation for 18 years and nothing has come of the proposed development since 2011.
Medford Township never went after Samost to obtain the liquor licenses previously because of the ongoing uncertainty with the process.
“There’s process, a procedure,” Schultz said. “Historically, if you look at the history of the town, there was the belief that something was going to built there.”
The brief filed by township solicitor Christopher Norman states that Samost has held the licenses for 10 years, seven months. According to state law, an inactive liquor license is only permitted to be extended for two additional years upon showing good cause.
When Samost filed a request to have the two inactive licenses renewed for another two years, the township decided to step in.
Schultz said with no developer tabbed to build Medford Crossings and no progress made on the site in the last couple of years, MVE has no probable cause to keep the two licenses.
MVE’s premise for extension stems from “activation delays on litigation that has lasted 18 years.”
“The way the litigation is playing out, we’re just not confident anything is going to be built there,” Schultz said.
The licenses are very valuable to the township and the residents. Norman’s brief cited the negative impact on taxes that having these inactive liquor licenses are having.
“After many years now, Medford Township has run out of patience,” Norman said in the brief. “The municipality is now losing out on commercial tax ratables that would be generated by two restaurants with active plenary C retail consumption licenses.”
In September, Councilman Randy Pace stated that Medford is currently running with 94 percent residential tax ratables and only 6 percent commercial ratables. The addition of two more liquor licenses would be a boon for commercial development in the township.
Medford put a third liquor license up for bid in October that formerly belonged to Beau Rivage. However, the township has received no bids for that license so far.
Samost could not be reached for comment.
