Sunapee tightens alcohol and vending rules on town property

Sunapee residents, event organizers and vendors can no longer treat town property as open-ended space for alcohol service or sales. The Selectboard voted May 31 to put new rules into effect immediately and turned down a trial period, setting up the first real test this summer as traffic builds around Lake Sunapee and the town’s recreation areas.

The change followed a May 18 public hearing at 6:35 p.m. in the Town Office Meeting Room at 23 Edgemont Road, where the board took comment on updates to the Recreation Area Ordinance, Alcohol Ordinance, Hawkers, Peddlers, & Vendors Ordinance and Grilling Ordinance. Town records also show the ordinance review was tied to a May 4 hearing on fee changes for police, the transfer station, alcohol permits and use-of-town-facilities charges.

Sunapee’s new 2026 Alcohol Control Ordinance says its purpose is to preserve public peace and good order on property owned or controlled by the town and to promote public safety and welfare. Adopted under RSA 178:21, RSA 41:11 and RSA 41:11-a, it replaces the town’s older 2005 rule, which made it unlawful to consume, attempt to consume or possess an opened alcoholic beverage on town property. The new permit application also gives the Selectboard, Town Manager or police department authority to immediately suspend or terminate a permitted event for violations, unsafe conditions or failure to comply with permit conditions.

The town widened its vending restrictions in the same package. The new Vending on Town Property Ordinance defines town property broadly, covering parks, parking lots, recreational areas, municipal facilities, roads, sidewalks and rights-of-way. It bars vending anywhere on town property without an approved permit and says unregulated vending can create congestion, interfere with pedestrian and vehicle movement, impede emergency access and conflict with the intended use of town property.

That reach goes beyond Sunapee’s older hawkers, peddlers and vendors rules, which already prohibited vending in public parking lots and common areas except for permitted nonprofit or charitable organizations. The recreation area ordinance, meanwhile, remains aimed at preserving public peace and good order on town recreation lands while regulating hours and motorized vehicles.

Sunapee has also been using OpenGov since April 2024 to handle permits and applications online, giving the town a system to process the tighter alcohol and vending rules as the summer season gets underway.