Voting meeting
Penn Hills council is expected to vote on whether to approve a request by Giant Eagle to transfer a liquor license to its GetGo store at Frankstown and Coal Hollow roads during a 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday at the municipal building, 12245 Frankstown Road. Discussion on the request was tabled at a Feb. 6 meeting.
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Updated 1 hour ago
A tape measure would have helped attorney Mark Kozar's cause as he pitched his client's request to the Penn Hills council for approval to sell beer and wine at the GetGo at Frankstown and Coal Hollow roads.
Kozar, representing store owner Giant Eagle, provided a lot of information about what will take place if the transfer of a North Versailles liquor license to the GetGo is approved by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board after council signs off on the request. But he couldn't answer whether the store was 300 feet from a church — a state provision that could nix the license transfer.
“I don't know. I haven't measured it. The PLCB makes that decision,” Kozar said when asked the question during a meeting on Feb. 6.
PLCB spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell said the state agency can consider the distance from church or schools when determining whether to grant a license transfer to a store — but the issue is not usually something considered by municipal boards.
“Practically speaking, we generally only consider proximity when someone has protested a proposed licensed premise because of its proximity to a church, school, etc.,” she said in an email. “The law doesn't require us to deny an application within 300 (or 200 or 100) feet, but it gives us the discretion to do so.”
Hebron United Presbyterian Church on Frankstown Road could be within 300 feet of the store — especially if measured from the edge of a parking lot recently added on the property.
“That should have been part of your presentation in order for mayor and council to make a judgment,” said Mayor Sara Kuhn. “A transfer of a liquor license is a very serious decision for the residents of Penn Hills. I asked you a simple question and you are saying to me that it doesn't matter? That's not how we do things in Penn Hills.”
Council tabled discussion of the request after Kozar agreed to get the measurements before the board's next meeting.
Councilmen Gary Underwood and Catherine Sapp voted against tabling discussion of the store's request. Sapp said she will be voting against the license transfer no matter what the measurements show.
“GetGo hires (teens) that are friends of high-schoolers. They could easily sell it to their friends. It concerns me that youth may be able to purchase alcohol,” she said.
Kozar told the board the store would have a “100 percent carding policy.” He also said it would have a two-beer limit for on-property consumption allowed only with a food purchase, and a security guard on the premises until 1 a.m. He added that the store would get $300,000 worth of renovations, adding 30 seats and food service.
But Sapp wasn't swayed.
“We don't need (alcohol sales) to help the community solicit unacceptable behavior there. Cars have been stolen, there have been shootings, drug transactions and other unruly actions,” Sapp said.
Kuhn was more interested in how close the store is to the church before deciding how she will vote.
“If I know something is in violation, why would I vote for that?” she said.
Samson X Horne is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 412-871-2325 or shorne@tribweb.com.
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