John P. O’Brien
Brookfield trustees are asking the Ohio Department of Liquor Control to hold a public hearing on a request to allow alcohol sales at the former St. Bernadette’s Church in Masury because Police Chief Dan Faustino opposes the granting of the license, according to a motion the trustees approved Sept. 11.
An entity called Abbey at Locust St. Ltd., controlled by John O’Brien, who owns the former church at 7800 Locust, is asking for licenses that would allow sales of beer, wine and hard liquor and Sunday sales.
O’Brien has said he would like to turn the former church sanctuary into a banquet hall.
Faustino opposes the licenses because of O’Brien’s legal issues, said Trustee Dan Suttles.
O’Brien declined to comment.
O’Brien has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of conspiring to bill Primary Health Network, Sharon, for construction and professional services that were not performed. O’Brien has pleaded not guilty.
O’Brien also was charged by Brookfield police in 2021 and 2022 in four separate domestic-related incidents. He resolved the cases by pleading guilty or no contest to single counts of disorderly conduct and assault.
Faustino added that the former Stevenson Inn presented a lot of problems for the neighborhood it is in, and he does not want that to happen in the Abbey’s neighborhood, which is southwest of Route 62.
The trustees’ motion was passed by Suttles and Shannon Devitz. Trustee Mark Ferrara said he abstained from the vote because his brother, David, and members of David’s family run Ferrara’s at the Abbey, a pizza restaurant in the church’s basement. Ferrara’s at the Abbey rents from O’Brien and are not parties to the request for a liquor license.
