Tisbury selectmen this week approved the first four beer and wine licenses for town restaurants.

In sharp contrast to the long and contentious process which preceded them, the first four hearings were remarkably short, and all went through without a voice raised in objection.

It took five years of sometimes stormy debate and two ballots to get the citizenry to agree to allow restaurants to serve beer and wine with patrons’ meals, but just 18 minutes on Tuesday afternoon for selectmen to give approval to the first applicant — Zephrus Restaurant and the Mansion House inn — and the only rumbles were thunder outside.

Weather aside, it was all rather anti-climactic. After years of predicting that restaurant alcohol sales would increase crime, drunkenness, make the town unsafe for children, and all manner of other negatives, not one opponent of beer and wine sales turned up. Not one abutter to any of the four applicant restaurants came to express concern. Not one selectman raised any objection to any aspect of the plans put before them.

There were some interesting questions raised, however.

In the case of the Zephrus/Mansion House application, for example, the questions related mostly to the fact that the proposal was not just to obtain a license for the 96-seat restaurant, but also for three function rooms in the Mansion House.

Town regulations require that beer and wine can only be served to restaurant patrons seated for meals. But the selectmen seemed unsure of what should happen in the case of private functions, where guests might not be seated.

The Goldstein’s attorney, Howard Miller, a former chairman of the State Alcohol Beverages Control Commission (ABCC), who has guided selectmen through the process of setting regulations, assured them that was permissible. The selectmen asked that they be informed of all functions.

There also was some talk about the fact that the restaurant and inn are separate corporate entities. Once again the selectmen were reassured.

At 5:32 p.m., Geoghan Coogan moved the approval of Tisbury’s “first annual beer and wine license.” It passed unanimously.

He also moved that the license fees be prorated, to account for potential delays by the ABCC, which also must approve the licenses.

After that, things moved even faster.

Next up was Saltwater Restaurant, whose owner, Sam Dunn, sought a seasonal license, which would run from April 1 to Nov. 1.

That hearing highlighted another question. If a restaurant was licensed to serve alcohol for part of the year, could it revert to being a BYO establishment for the balance of the year.

The answer was yes. Once again, Mr. Miller elaborated; the ABCC required that all alcohol be removed from the premises once the licensed season was over. It could not just be stored there for the next season.

The selectmen also made it clear that any function held on the licensed premises, even if it was a private one not supplied by the licensees, such as a wedding, could only serve beer and wine, and not other forms of alcohol.

The third application considered was from the Blue Canoe restaurant, which also was for a seasonal license.

It took just six minutes for Susan Bowen, who will manage it, to be given the stamp of approval.

And then it was the turn of Waterside Market, seeking an annual license. There was some discussion with restaurant manager Stephen Bowen, Mrs. Bowen’s husband, about how many days each week it had to be open to qualify; the ABCC minimum requirement is three. It also took just six minutes to pass unanimously.

In each case, the owners and managers were reminded they had to pass fire, building and board of health inspections; also each was asked how many television sets they would have (the answers were one, one, none and none respectively), and asked to inform the town of all functions.

All went extremely smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that the board was forced to find other matters to fill time, since the hearings were scheduled on the meeting agenda at 30-minute intervals and could not be started early by law. When the selectmen ran out of other things to talk about, they went into recess.

They also found time to appoint a new police chief and signal their unhappiness with the town’s planning board over a delay in advancing a vision for the town’s old fire station.

Mr. Coogan was particularly critical, saying they had asked for a plan for the site at last October’s special town meeting.

“We asked for a conceptual plan by November. It’s now June. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

Now the planning board is seeking approval for a further study, at a probable cost of around $20,000, and considerable further delay.

The selectmen all dismissed the need for that. Mr. Coogan suggested that if the planning board could not promptly provide the information needed to make a call on the future use of the site, the selectmen should get someone else to do the job.

The planning board has tagged the site as its preference for a new town hall, but the selectmen have doubts about whether the site is big enough, stable enough — it is built on a former wetland — and has sufficient access.

The matter is up for discussion at next week’s meeting, and, gauged by the comments of all three selectmen, it could be contentious.

“The battle begins,” said Tristan Israel.