Lower Makefield Alcohol Sales Get Signatures For Vote

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA — Backers of a vote on allowing alcohol sales in Lower Makefield Township say they've collected enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat who represents Lower Makefield, said that, as of Tuesday, organizers already had more signatures than they'll need to get the question onto ballots during the April 28 presidential primaries in Pennsylvania.

"We have reports that more than the required 500 resident signatures have been collected in just the first week," Santarsiero said in a written statement. "We will continue to collect signatures and I am confident we will get close to 1,000 before the petition period ends on Feb. 18."

The vote could overturn Lower Makefield's 70-year-old policy outlawing the sale of alcohol. Currently, Lower Makefield is the only municipality in Bucks County that doesn't allow alcohol sales.

(Some exceptions to the law have been approved by supervisors over the years, including beer and wine sales at Shady Brook Farm's tavern.)

Starting on Jan. 28, Your Town Your Choice posted petitions at four Lower Makefield locations — Shady Brook Farm, McCaffrey's Supermarket and DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies.

They have until Tuesday, Feb. 18, to get the 500 signatures needed to place the referendum on the ballot for the April 28 presidential primaries. Anyone who is registered to vote within Lower Makefield Township may sign the petition.

If approved, the referendum question would read: "Do you favor the granting of liquor licenses for the sale of liquor in the Township of Lower Makefield?"

A new state law pushed, in part, by Santarsiero has made getting such referendums on the ballot easier. Legislation by Santarsiero was rolled into another bill and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf in July.

The legislation reduced the number of signatures needed to get a referendum on the ballot from 25 percent of the highest vote total cast for any office in the municipality (for Lower Makefield, that would be 2,930) to a flat 500 resident signatures.

According to backers of the effort, the location of establishments that could sell alcohol would be regulated by township zoning ordinance. Based on Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board quotas, Lower Makefield would be entitled to no more than 10 restaurant liquor licenses.

After that, the board of supervisors would have authority to approve or deny additional licenses within the township.