The owner of a downtown Erie business building shuttered by city officials in June for alleged zoning and code violations following an investigation into suspected unlawful alcohol sales there is appealing the action.
Lawyers representing Stephen Crow, the owner of a building at 1015 State St. that most recently housed an eating establishment known as Reflections, are challenging a determination by officials in the City of Erie’s Zoning Office that the establishment was operating as a “bottle club” or “dance club” without approval from the city’s Zoning Hearing Board.
The Zoning Hearing Board is scheduled to address the appeal at its meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in council chambers at Erie City Hall, 626 State St.
City officials in early June posted the building as uninhabitable and off-limits after taking part in a search of the space by members of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement.
State police searched the property as part of an investigation into suspected alcohol sales on the premises without a liquor license. Undercover officers visited the business on three occasions earlier this year and said they paid an entry fee to get in and purchased alcoholic beverages on two of those visits, according to information in the affidavit filed with the search warrant. Investigators confirmed that the business does not have a valid liquor license, according to information in the affidavit.
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Andy Zimmerman, Erie’s manager of code enforcement, told the Erie Times-News after 1015 State St. was posted as off-limits following the search that officials documented violations of zoning rules and code violations they found. Zoning issues related to the location were being reviewed by the city Solicitor’s Office, Zimmerman said at the time.
Zoning ordinance definitions for Erie bottle and dance clubs
In a June 6 letter addressed to the building’s owner/operator, officials stated that Erie’s zoning ordinance defines a bottle club as an establishment in which alcohol is not sold but is either provided by the operator or brought in by patrons to be consumed on premises. They also stated a dance club is a premises open to public gathering and is not licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Bottle and dance clubs must obtain Zoning Hearing Board approve to operate in a C-3 Central Commercial zoning district in the city, where 1015 State St. is located, and the suspected activity at the location had not received zoning approval, according to information in the letter.
In a form sent to the Zoning Hearing Board appealing the city’s determination, lawyers representing Crow LLC, which has a listed address as Las Vegas, Nevada, wrote that the primary use of 1015 State St. is an eating and drinking establishment as permitted.
City code officials said after the building was shuttered in June that Reflections is licensed by the city as an eating and drinking establishment and obtained a food license.
Contact Tim Hahn at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie board to hear appeal of downtown building’s shuttering in June
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