Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-5-17 (2026)

Notice and hearing on licenses

✓ current as of July 2026
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Before granting a license to any person under the provisions of this chapter and title, the board, body or official to whom application for the license is made, shall give notice by advertisement published once a week for at least two (2) weeks in some newspaper published in the city or town where the applicant proposes to carry on business, or, if there is no newspaper published in a city or town, then in some newspaper having a general circulation in the city or town. Applications for retailer’s Class F, P and Class G licenses need not be advertised. The advertisement shall contain the name of the applicant and a description by street and number or other plain designation of the particular location for which the license is requested. Notice of the application shall also be given, by mail, to all owners of property within two hundred feet (200′) of the place of business seeking the application. The notice shall be given by the board, body or official to whom the application is made, and the cost of the application shall be borne by the applicant. The notices shall state that remonstrants are entitled to be heard before the granting of the license, and shall name the time and place of the hearing. At the time and place a fair opportunity shall be granted the remonstrants to make their objections before acting upon the application; provided that no advertisement or notice need be given pursuant to this section when a license holder applies for a temporary seasonal expansion of an existing liquor license.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1962–2001 · leading case: Beacon Restaurant, Inc. v. Adamo, 241 A.2d 291 (R.I. 1968).
Beacon Restaurant, Inc. v. Adamo, 241 A.2d 291 (R.I. 1968). · cites it 4× “1956, §3-5-19, a local licensing board may allow the transfer of an outstanding license only after it has given public notice of the pending application in a manner set forth in §3-5-17. The pertinent portion of this latter section which provides for the advertising of the date…”
Cadillac Lounge, LLC. v. City of Providence, 763 A.2d 993 (R.I. 2001). · cites it 2× “At the hearing before the state Liquor Control Administrator, it was discovered that the wrong building was used for the radius map, and therefore not all property owners were notified of the pending application in violation of G.L.1956 § 3-5-17. The liquor license was therefore…”
Vitterito v. Sportsman's Lodge & Restaurant, Inc., 228 A.2d 119 (R.I. 1967). · cites it 2× “1966, §3-5-17. The hearing pursuant to such notice was held November 21, 1966 at which time 52 applications for renewals were considered.”
Earle v. Pastore, 511 A.2d 989 (R.I. 1986). · cites it 2× “The petitioners contend that the third class of individuals would include any members of the public who receive notice by publication of a hearing at the local level under § 3-5-17, as amended by P.L.1977, ch. 216, § 1, and who appear as objectors at the public hearing before…”
Ramsay v. Sarkas, 295 A.2d 416 (R.I. 1972). “2d 165, 168 (1959), and by §3-5-17, which in the case of an original application requires notice to the general public by advertisement and a fair opportunity for remonstrants to make their objections known at a hearing.”
Bd. of License Commissioners v. O'DOWD, 179 A.2d 579 (R.I. 1962). “1956, §3-5-17, four more applications were received for class B licenses.”
Vitterito v. Sportsman's Lodge & Restaurant, Etc., 228 A.2d 119 (R.I. 1967). · cites it 3× “However, in addition to demanding a return of the license expiring December 1, 1966, receiver Murphy, having been so authorized by the superior court, seasonably made application to the license commissioners for a renewal of the license to December 1, 1967, and this application…”
28 Prospect Hill St., Inc. v. Gaines, 461 A.2d 923 (R.I. 1983). “Consequently, hearings on the renewal of all liquor licenses, including Class B, are usually held in November because § 3-5-17 requires that any application for a liquor license be advertised once a week for at least two weeks in a newspaper published in the city or town where…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.