The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners approved a liquor license transfer from Casa Catrina, a Mexican restaurant that ceased operations in Lower Macungie Township, to Whitehall Store, at 4117 Main St., Whitehall. The property is currently known as Whitehall Pharmacy.

The license transfer passed 4-3 among the board, and it brought much attention and frustration from several board members.

Commissioners Taylor Stakes, Elizabeth Fox, Randy Atiyeh and Lee Christman voted yes, while President Jeffrey Warren, Vice President Thomas Slonaker and Commissioner Ken Snyder voted no.

While the vote passed, it still needs to be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board for final approval.

Manish Patel, owner of Whitehall Store since October 2025, was sworn in to testify by a court reporter present at the meeting. Attorney McCreesh, Patel’s attorney, was present before the board and the public.

Patel is currently running the convenience store and is seeking a restaurant liquor license to begin selling beer and wine, but no hard liquor. The license up for a possible transfer is an R-license (restaurant).

According to Pennsylvania’s website, an R-license permits the sale of beer, wine and spirits products for on-premise consumption, but they may not sell alcohol to-go. They may also sell up to 192 fluid ounces of beer for off-premise consumption, but wine and spirits are not permitted to-go.

The website also states the establishment must be less than 400 square feet, have tables and seating provided for at least 30 patrons and must serve food. While an R-license is typically reserved for a bar or tavern, an R-license could also be utilized for a grocery or convenience store, with the attorney bringing up examples like Wawa, Sheetz, Giant and Weis.

According to Patel, the proposed hours of the store would be 6 a.m.-9 p.m., with 3,000 square feet being converted for the convenience store and 600 square feet dedicated to the restaurant and alcohol use.

McCreesh said they would partition the space into a pharmacy and then a convenience store/restaurant on the other side.

According to McCreesh, the liquor code in Pennsylvania allows for intermunicipal license transfer within the same county.

McCreesh also reported they had to go to the board of commissioners first for their opinion and recommendations. Township Solicitor Jack Gross added that, once the board voted on the ordinance, the applicants would have to go to the PLCB for an application review.

Patel stated to Gross and the court reporter present that everything McCreesh stated regarding their proposal was accurate.

Whitehall Pharmacy is at the same location as the convenience store. However, Patel stated he does not own the pharmacy, to which McCreesh stated that someone named Calishman Patel owns the pharmacy.

Snyder asked Patel if he was planning to separate the convenience store from the restaurant/alcohol sales side, to which he said a divider would be placed in the store for both sections.

Snyder added he was “shocked” to see this liquor license transfer before the board, adding it didn’t make sense to have alcohol sales in the same building as a pharmacy.

Gross added the transfer has nothing to do with zoning, land development or building utilization.

Snyder and Slonaker expressed much frustration with the applications, with Snyder saying he was not provided any documentation or project layouts regarding the proposed restaurant.

Per the liquor code in Pennsylvania, seating must be provided for at least 30 patrons. By law, businesses must provide seating for any food and alcohol sales.

Warren brought up the example of beer distributors, which operate under what is called a D-license (distributor license) and do not have to provide seating and tables if they are only selling beer and no food.

Snyder continued his frustration with Patel and McCreesh by saying their application should have been cleaned up and clearer for the board to understand. According to Snyder, they first proposed to only sell beer at the establishment, but at the meeting, they mentioned selling wine as well.

Snyder and Warren also expressed hesitation about Whitehall Store having a limited parking lot and may not have enough parking spaces for patrons once the business would start selling food and alcohol. Patel noted the lot only has 10 parking spaces, which Warren argued would not be enough to handle both the convenience store and pharmacy.

The resolution was amended before a vote was taken from commissioners, with the applicant agreeing that beer and wine would be only sold at this location, with hours 6 a.m.-9 p.m. and would comply with other township ordinances and regulations.

The transfer ended up passing 4-3.

“This application submitted for us tonight was incomplete for us to make a proper decision,” Snyder said.

Snyder also stated other applicants would have provided complete detail, layout, details regarding parking and how the building would be utilized.

Warren called it a “tough vote,” while Slonaker told the applicants this process “should have been done better.”