The effort to reopen the Skybox Bar and Grill has been thwarted by a technicality.

Though the state overturned the City Council’s decision to deny a liquor license to the Skybox, it also determined that a license could not be issued because the catering service at the same location already has one.

The decision from the Department of Public Safety’s Liquor Licensing and Compliance Division came in December – about two months after a public hearing at which a panel of representatives from the state heard from Police Capt. Tom Roth, City Councilors Dotty Aube and Mike Foley and applicants Allen and Lynn Moore.

After the city’s Municipal Officers denied a liquor license in March to former Skybox owners Tom and Ellen Dore, who did not to appeal to the state, the Moores decided they wanted to reopen the Brown Street bar.

The Municipal Officers, which include the City Council and the mayor, denied that license in August, based on the fact that the bar had caused trouble for the police and residents in the area.

Lt. David Bowler of the Department of Public Safety found the denial of the license was “without justifiable cause.”

However, the state denied issuing a license to the Moores because a license had already been given to Ellen Dore’s catering company, The Good Chef, which she runs out of the same building at 212 Brown St.

According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant, the Moores could become eligible for a license if the building is renovated to separate the two businesses.

Neither the Moores nor the Dores returned phone calls to comment on whether they plan to do that.