Rum Runner Gets Approval for Location Change

Mansfield's Rum Runner Liquor store got 4-0 approval (with selectmen Doug Aninno absent) from the Mansfield Board of Selectmen to move to 428 Elm St.

The new location is the same address that the now-defunct Mansfield Variety Store occupies, which is owned by a trust run by Rum Runner owners Joe and Mary Ann Detrolio.

Currently, the defunct convenience store is in bad disrepair, and requires many repairs and reconstruction.

Town Manager William Ross said that the location will require that the Mansfield building inspector Nicholas Riccio approve the building before the selectmen can grant an occupancy permit.

The new store will be a full-liquor store and convenience store, regardless of the fact that the new space is smaller than the plaza location.

“There was a convenience store there before,” Joe Detrolio. “I don’t see an problems with that going back to the location.”

Detrolio said the new location is necessary because there is no location in the area that can provide a convenience store within three miles of the Elm Street location.

“There’s nothing out there,” he said. “We fill the needs for part of Attleboro and Norton as well as Mansfield… I wanted a Snickers Almond the other day, and I had to drive to the Cumberland Farms in Attleboro to get it. If the store was open I wouldn’t have to do that.”

The location is already zoned for commercial use, and the lot is the only portion of the area zoned in that fashion.

Abutting resident Michael Ray of 430 Elm St. said he had some objections to the move. He said, that as an abutting neighbor, he is against the move because of a previous incident when the old owners of the store (not the Detrolios) asked to increase the buffer of the business zone in order to tear down the old building and build a bigger one. The town allowed the change, but neighbors appealed the decision and a judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Court repealed the decision.

“The town neglected to to look out for its constituents,” he said. “The judge did see that it was not the right choice… During that experience I saw that the owners showed their true colors – they don’t care about the community.”

Selectmen George Dentino said that, though he agrees that that particular situation was not correct, it does not fall under the current issue.

“That was proven, this doesn’t fall under that now,” he said.