Saturday, March 05 2011
By Adam Clark |
The Morning Call
EASTON, PA -- Get ready to leave your back porch, cigar lovers. It looks like you'll have somewhere else to smoke.
Forks Township supervisors granted a conditional use Thursday for Famous Smoke Shop to operate a restaurant and bar at its new facility in the Fort James II Industrial Park. If the state Liquor Control Board approves a liquor license transfer, the business could be up and running as early as June.
Smoking will be permitted in every inch of the restaurant, bar and lounge thanks to an exemption in state law that allows smoking if more than 15 percent of revenue comes from tobacco, township solicitor Karl Kline said.
The Famous Smoke Shop sells cigars and cigar accessories through catalog, website and walk-in sales at its current location on Conroy Place in Forks. The business is building a new 60,000-square- foot facility on Mort Drive, which had already been approved by the township.
Owner Arthur Zaretsky said he didn't include the cigar restaurant in the original plans approved in 2009 because he didn't think it was possible. He eventually decided he wanted to pursue the idea, partly because of what he described as the prohibitive society his customers live in.
"Cigar smokers have … somewhat of a pariah status in this country," Zaretsky said. "They have no place to smoke. Not even in their home."
The bar and restaurant is planned to be 3,664 square feet with a 1,024 square foot patio. It is an allowed use in the employment center zoning district, but Zaretsky needed to get conditional use approval because it would be a second use at the same property.
Supervisors granted the approval on the conditions that no one under 18 is allowed inside, the northern and eastern borders are buffered with hedges and the plan is approved by the township solicitor and engineer.
Famous Smoke Shop opened in 1939 and moved from New York to Forks Township in 2000 because of the lower tax rate on tobacco in Pennsylvania.
Zaretsky said the bar and restaurant will serve lunch and dinner, but he's not sure if cigarette smoking will be allowed.
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