UPPER MILFORD TWP., Pa. — An iconic ice cream shop along Route 100 soon could swap sundaes for cigars.
TG Countryside at 5130 Chestnut St. could become a cigar and tobacco shop if Upper Milford Township Zoning Hearing Board grants a variance to the prospective owners.
Since the late 1950s, the business at Route 100 and Route 29 has operated as an ice cream shop.
It opened in 1958 as Kressley's Cree-Mee Freez by Leo and Wilma Kressley. It changed hands several times before landing back in the lap of Nadine Schmoyer, who previously owned the restaurant in the 1980s, and branded it as TG Countryside.
The ice cream shop has had several face-lifts over the years, from when the Kressleys expanded it in April 1965 to its renewed form after a fire ravaged the building in May 2011.
Now, Jai Raskapur and Isha Patel are looking to expand the building 30%, totaling to more than 2,000 square feet, to accommodate a smoking lounge and what Raskapur said will be "Lehigh County's biggest walk-in cigar humidor."
Proposed expansion
That variance hinges on several factors the applicants must satisfy, with two standing out among board members and residents at the zoning hearing board's Monday meeting.
Those are that lacking the additional square footage creates a "unique hardship" and "the relief will not result in the alteration of the essential character of the neighborhood or zoning district in which the property is located, substantially or permanently."
Raskapur said he owns six shops in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas including Quakertown and Stroudsburg.
The proposed store would sell the same items as his other locations: premium cigars, pipes, glass, tobacco products, legalized vaporizers, lottery tickets, soda and candy.
Two of those stores do not have indoor smoking lounges.
But at 5130 Chestnut St., Raskapur argues, the business can't survive without a lounge or walk-in humidor.
"For a cigar business, if you see any successful cigar shops, without a lounge it’s very difficult," Raskapur told the board.
"Since we are going to be focusing on premium cigars, we are going to need the lounge because of how winter is here. The lounge is the perfect place for customers to continue smoking cigars."
The additional square footage — which would take up what's currently used as a patio — would provide space for both of those, Raskapur and his attorney argued.
Residents from Upper Milford Township and beyond said it's not necessary.
Residents speak out
The meeting nearly filled the parking lot and created a line to get into the meeting auditorium. Seeing the crowd, board members set a time limit to end the meeting at 9:30 p.m.
Alexander Kalogeropoulos, of Emmaus, immediately dove into most of the residents' concerns, opposing the retail variance request in the township's Village Commercial district.
"The applicants are asking for a variance to build an addition ... Village Commercial allows retail, but only when it stays small," Kalogeropoulos said.
Kalogeropoulos argued that the relief would permanently alter any future projects at the property and impact the public welfare and neighborhood character because of nearby schools and families, all while failing to prove a unique hardship.
"I'm not asking you to ban a lawful use," Kalogeropoulos told the board. "Retail is permitted here at under 2000 square feet. I'm asking you to hold the line on scale so that use remains compatible with the neighborhood.
"Variances are meant to be rare and fact-specific, not a back door to larger formats in a small-scale district.
"This is not an argument about outlawing a particular type of store — which I have a feeling probably a lot of people are going to say or have issues with the type of store — the ordinance already allows retail here within 2,000 square feet.
"The question before you is whether to let this one store exceed that limit without a land-based hardship. The answer should be no for all of these reasons. There is no hardship.
"The need is self created. The request is not the minimum relief. It conflicts with the [Village Commercial] district's purpose, and it would harm neighborhood character in the public welfare.
"I respectfully ask the board to deny the variance."
The room erupted into applause. And it continued to do so as residents spoke out and agreed with one another.
'Increase the chaos on the roads'
Former township commissioner and Vera Cruz Fire Chief George DeVault also cited traffic concerns, noting the frequency of accidents around that intersection.
Raskapur said the cigar shop would operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
"The traffic there is horrible, doing nothing but getting worse by the day... and I'd hate to see the township do anything that's going to increase the chaos on the roads."George DeVault, former township commissioner and Vera Cruz Fire Chief
That drew concerns from residents, who are used to Countryside's seasonal business from May through October.
"All of us in the township drive [Routes] 29 and 100 [and] know the traffic there is horrible, doing nothing but getting worse by the day," DeVault said.
"The [firefighters] who just left and I have pulled more mangled, and sometimes dead, bodies out of cars right around that intersection than we care to count.
"And I'd hate to see the township do anything that's going to increase the chaos on the roads."
Raskapur insisted the extension would not drive business up and therefore wouldn't increase traffic.
He said the cigar lounge is meant to act as a unique feature that draws customers in and maintains their business. The lounge would not have any exterior doors and would also have a ventilation system to alleviate any odors.
'My question: Why?'
Citing concerns for space, Raskapur also said, "we have not even thought about" integrating recreational cannabis into the business if it becomes legalized.
He said the store would not have enough room.
As a premium cigar shop alone, without variance relief, "Everything would be very compact and not enough comfortable space for the people to sit and smoke their cigars," he said.
He also addressed other safety concerns, such as age requirements and the presence of alcohol.
Raskapur said the point-of-sale system his business uses would not allow the sale to go through if it can't scan a valid ID and that the cigar shop would not sell alcohol or become BYOB.
Leyna Ortiz, who resides outside the township, questioned the motives behind the proposed business.
"My question, since this is all related to hardship: Why?" Ortiz said.
"Why would you propose an agreement of sale on a property in which you knew you could not do what you wanted to do without having this exception of for number one.
"And number two: You said you wanted the largest cigar bar, but the largest cigar bars in the Lehigh Valley, they already exist, and they are profitable because of two reasons.
"Number one, they offer not just a place to smoke, but they also offer BYOB or alcohol in their establishment. Those cigar bars that are successful already in the Lehigh Valley have that — yours will not.
"So why propose something? Why propose that for this space?"
Hearing to continue
Just after 9:20 p.m., residents continued to raise their hands to speak out against the request.
Board member April Schiel asked for comment from anyone in support of the relief request, but no residents spoke.
Eventually Raskapur and his legal counsel agreed to a continuance proposed by the board. Initially, Raskapur said he needed a decision that night because the sellers expected to close on the deal by Sept. 5, pending the results of the zoning meeting.
Board solicitor Stephen Strack said the decision "present[s] the opportunity to move forward to deliberate it fairly," by letting the applicant "present their closing."
Strack said any residents who could not attend or did not speak up could do so at the next meeting.
The next zoning hearing board meeting will be 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Upper Milford Township municipal building, 5671 Chestnut St. in Zionsville.
