At the continuation of a disciplinary hearing Tuesday, the Oak Bluffs selectmen found a bar had violated nine liquor control regulations on its opening weekend in March.

And while board members said they were inclined to suspend the liquor license, instead they spared the owners of Loft at Dreamland from being shut down at the start of the busy season and issued a warning.

“If it didn’t hurt the bartenders and the rest of them, I would say close them down for a week,” said selectman Gregory A. Coogan.

Among the nine infractions observed in mid-March, police noted two counts of over serving patrons with extreme levels of drunkenness. Management also changed the bar layout without receiving approval, failed to post drunk driving warning signs and occupancy load, and neglected to obtain an updated occupancy permit as well as proper licenses for entertainment and pool tables. In addition, Oak Bluffs police Det. James Morse said he observed the bartender serve three drinks to a single patron (the limit is two) as well as a pitcher of beer to a single patron (two or more patrons are required), according to a written police report.

Speaking Tuesday on behalf of Loft owners J.B. Blau and Alex Nagi, attorney Sean Murphy said many of the violations have already been rectified. Addressing the most serious of the violations, he said turnout was far higher than anticipated on opening weekend. “To be completely honest, they were understaffed,” Mr. Murphy said. He also said that while the owners originally hired two bartenders and two security people, they immediately doubled staffing levels and retrained their staff in safe alcohol service procedures.

Since they were notified of the other infractions, the owners also filed a formal entertainment license application, obtained the proper pool table permits from the town clerk, and are finalizing the occupancy permit with the fire department. They have also applied for retroactive permission to alter the premises. In failing to get that approval before opening day, Mr. Murphy said the owners were not trying to slip under the radar.

Alterations typically mean changes to exits, entrances or walls, which wasn’t the case at Loft. In converting the former event space into an adult game room, they relocated the bar and added furniture, arcade games, and billiard tables. “This was not a case of we will build it and nobody will know about it and we’ll just ask for forgiveness later,” Mr. Murphy said.

But Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake disagreed.

“With all due respect to everybody sitting in the room, I think it’s just the opposite of what Attorney Murphy is saying,” he said. “It was a case of, we did it and now we are asking for forgiveness.”

Selectman Coogan had his own harsh words for the Loft owners, who also own the Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Company downstairs.

“It is amazing to me that you have been in business this long in this town and that things were this sloppy,” he said. “And it really does seem to me that this was something maybe you could just pull off and I find that disturbing.”

A contrite Mr. Blau, one of the owners, admitted the missteps. “We did make some mistakes and we were sloppy,” he said. “I will take the brunt. We are busy because we are trying to stay open seven days a week, year round . . . we absolutely dropped the ball.”

In other business Tuesday, selectmen voted to change Canonicus avenue to a one-way street from Sea View avenue to Naushon avenue.

During hearings before the roads and byways committee, neighbors backed the change, saying it would reduce traffic on the narrow road.

“That whole community came to us to solve what they saw as the problem,” said Mr. Blake.

The selectmen said they could always change it back if it caused more traffic to build up on a parallel street.

“If we create a problem, we can change it overnight,” Mr. Coogan said.