201 Pa. Super. 21 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1963
Opinion by
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board refused a club liquor license to the appellee because the quota was exceeded in the township where the club was located, the area is not a resort area and there is no evidence of necessity for an additional license for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages in the township. This was reversed by the Quarter Sessions Court of Luzerne County which found that the Andes Club was located in a resort area to which there is a seasonal influx of
There are no specific findings by the court here such as there were in the Willowbrook Country Club, Inc. Liquor License Case, 198 Pa. Superior Ct. 242, 181 A. 2d 698, affirmed 409 Pa. 370, 187 A. 2d 154 (1962) to justify the court in overriding the board. In the Willowbrook case the court found that the area attracted 5,000 to 6,000 people yearly, that the facilities on the ground of the applicant included many and varied recreational facilities as well as dining facilities which were detailed, that plans were being made for additional recreational facilities which will attract more people, that the club has 465 members and it has made an investment of |300,000 in the area, that plans have been formulated for the erection of fifty or more private cottages and that the members of the club come from a wide area. Here the court’s findings are that the property is centrally located in an area in close proximity to lakes and ponds “where fishing, swimming and boating actively prevail”, that there are “a substantial number” of summer cottages in the area and “an increasing number” under construction, that picnicking, clambakes and amusement facilities are available conveniently, without any indication as to what these facilities are, and that there is a seasonal influx of “a large number of transient population” seeking to enjoy the sporting and recreational facilities in the area.
It will be seen that by comparison with the Willow-brook case, we have here only general, and not specific,
There is no finding by the court in this case as to the extent of the population increase in the summertime. As contrasted with the specific finding in the Willowbrook case that the neighborhood attracted 5,-000 or 6,000 persons yearly, we have here merely a general finding that there is a seasonal influx of a large transient population.
In the Willowbrook case the court found that the recreational facilities available included an 18 hole golf course, a 6,000 square foot clubhouse with kitchen facilities and a dining area to accommodate 300 people, an 8,000,000 gallon fishing lake, a sixteen acre camping ground, soft ball fields, skeet and trap shooting facilities, an area for archery and the roads and fairways used for skiing and tobogganing in the winter. Here the court finds nothing -with regard to construction of any recreational facilities except that “picnicking, clambakes and amusement facilities are available conveniently in the area . . .”
Neither the Supreme Court nor this court has held that an area is a resort area merely because there are more people there during the summer than at other times, that it is one of the very numerous areas in Pennsylvania where people hunt, fish or boat and that
The order of the court below is reversed and the order of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is reinstated.