Liquor licensing is again up in the air for the Kriola Bar and Restaurant at 33 Hancock St. Although the owners and management team last week applied for a beer and wine license rather than a full liquor permit in the face of sustained civic pushback, they have now rescinded their application with plans to re-apply for a license when more become available.

The Cape Verdean restaurant, run by the five-person management team Capital Green Corporation (CGC), has billed itself from the start as “family oriented.” As explained to wary abutters in April, the company goal was a sit-down style setting featuring food and wine-tasting nights in a relaxed environment.

The conversation about liquor permitting quickly became contentious in communication with the community. Civic association members asked for assurances from CGC that, given the location’s troubled history, Kriola would not allow a continuation of neighborhood disruption that has been a hallmark of previous businesses on the lot.

At the initial abutters meeting, the CGC team said it would be open to seeking only a beer and wine license. Then, in May, CGC informed the community leaders that they would apply for an all-alcoholic liquor license, but would operate first with no alcohol, and then on a wine and beer-only permit for a probationary year until “we prove ourselves to be good and responsible restaurant owners,” partner Gabriel Livramento wrote in an email to civic leaders.

Livramento, who did not respond to request for comment Wednesday, said in an earlier conversation with the Reporter that the all-alcoholic liquor license was sought with an eye toward growth.

After both the Hancock Street Civic Association (HSCA) and the Jones Hill Civic Association – the civic groups representing the Hancock Street neighborhood – voted to oppose the full license, CGC changed its application with the Licensing Board to beer and wine.

Elected officials have remained neutral on the restaurant’s proposals thus far. On Tuesday, Mayor Martin Walsh’s office said that the “Office of Neighborhood Services will take a position on this specific application following the next abutters meeting.”

A representative in the Licensing Board office told the Reporter on Wednesday that the Kriola team had rescinded its application for the beer and wine license on Tuesday, telling the board that the owners would be applying again for a license within a few months.

Timing could be a factor in the latest consideration, as subsidized neighborhood licenses are not yet available and likely would not be before the previously scheduled Licensing Board hearing on Aug. 17.

HSCA president Marti Glynn said on Wednesday that she was “surprised” by the change, as the group had been notified of the beer and wine alternative just six days earlier.

Even with solely the beer and wine permit in mind, the proposal was already facing a problem after an HSCA meeting Monday night. Out of the session came firm and unanimous opposition to that application.

In a letter planned to be sent to Licensing Board and the mayor’s office before the application was withdrawn, the association said “members felt strongly that there were no conditions under which they could support CGC’s application.”

Civic group members have described interactions with the management team as “consistently disrespectful, dismissive, and divisive.” Fundamentally, the civic group said, it does not trust the team not to renege on its word to stick with beer and wine at this point.

Livramento made statements in the July HSCA meeting “that CGC did not feel bound by their previous statements regarding their business plan (statements they acknowledge making),” the civic group wrote. “Members have no trust that Capital Green Corporation partners would adhere to any conditions that restrict their operation.”

A complicating factor: the lot at 33 Hancock St. has long been the scene of violence, including a double homicide in 2009 when it was run as the Ka-Carlos. The CGC team has repeatedly emphasized the safety measures it plans to install at the restaurant, which has been open since early June.

“This neighborhood is reeling from a recent increase in violence,” the civic association letter read. “Over the past three weeks, there have been 8 known instances of gunfire in a four block radius of 33 Hancock Street. The addition of a business serving alcohol is the last thing we need in this neighborhood.”