Grenier v. Board of Selectmen

The board of selectmen of Shrewsbury (board), acting as the licensing authority for the town of Shrewsbury (town), denied the plaintiff Grenier’s application for a license to sell used cars. The board based the denial on its “Policy Number 9” (Policy 9),3 which purports to cap at twenty the number of *461class 2 used car dealer licenses in the town. When Policy 9 was adopted in 1999, the board did not specify why that precise number would be the cap. Rather, all that was stated by the board was that twenty licenses would “sufficiently meet the needs of the public for the Town.” Notwithstanding…