Jan 25, 2017 By Cara Host 3 min read

Giant Eagle wants to sell beer and wine at its GetGo gas station and convenience store at Library and Baptist roads.

Bethel Park Council held a hearing Jan. 23 to transfer a liquor license from a restaurant in Harrison Township to the convenience store, which will be remodeled to include a dining area with about 30 seats. Municipalities, along with the state’s Liquor Control Board, have to approve liquor license transfers. The council will consider approving the GetGo license transfer at the meeting Feb. 13.

“This is not the type of place where people will come and hang out and drink,” said Mark Kozar, a Pittsburgh attorney representing the supermarket chain.

Dine-in patrons will have to buy food before they can buy drinks, and GetGo will have a self-imposed limit of two drinks for each patron, Kozar said. Beer and wine will also be sold to go.

More convenience stores and other shops have been trying to get into the beer and wine selling business since Pennsylvania relaxed regulations last year.

Bethel Park also received a liquor license transfer application from the nearby Sheetz gas station and convenience store, also on Library Road. Council plans to hold a hearing on that transfer during the committee meeting Feb. 27 and it will probably take action at the regular meeting March 13.

Council also discussed a dilapidated building on Third Street. Todd Carter, code enforcement officer, said the house has been vacant for several years and is becoming dangerous. He said it probably needs to be torn down. The owner lives out of state and may have abandoned the property, so the municipality may have to pay for its demolition, with the cost estimated at $17,500.

“I can tell you the people who live in that neighborhood are pretty upset about that house,” said Councilman Don Harrison, who has received several complaints about the structure.

Council will have to hold a hearing to give the owners or lien holders an opportunity to object before it can order the demolition. That hearing is set for Feb. 27.

Council may also hold a hearing that evening on medical marijuana dispensaries and where they will be permitted to operate in the municipality. Pennsylvania legalized the sale of certain forms of marijuana for medical purposes last year.

Bethel Park council asked its zoning hearing board to consider which zones a medical marijuana dispensary would be allowed through a permitted use or conditional use. The Pennsylvania Department of Health will issue permits for up to 50 dispensaries throughout the state.