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Business & Tech

Liquor Referendums Likely to Appear on Ballot This November

Voters could decide on the fate of liquor sales at the Moorestown Mall. If history is any indication, the referendums will be divisive.

For the second time in less than five years, Moorestown voters likely will be asked to decide whether they want to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in their town.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), owner of the Moorestown Mall, and a local group have been collecting signatures on two petitions for referendums: One would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages and the other would restrict licenses to restaurants at the Moorestown Mall only, according to Seth Broder, a spokesman for pro-referendum Property Tax Relief for Moorestown.

Broder, a former councilman, said he was confident the group would meet its goal of 2,000 signatures, more than enough to get the questions on the ballot this November.

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“This is something the town is in dire need of,” said Broder. “It’s a shot in the arm for improving the economic stability of the town.”

In 2007, when voters were presented with a single referendum to allow the sale of alcohol at restaurants within Moorestown’s borders, the question was defeated by a nearly 2 to 1 margin.

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Opposition is likely to emerge from the same people who fought against it last time, said Dr. Patricia White, who took an active stand against the 2007 referendum.

“They’re trying to salvage that mall on the back of changing a long standing tradition in Moorestown,” she said. “I think it’s a misguided effort. I think they’d better look elsewhere.”

But, PREIT president Joe Coradino said that his company’s polls of Moorestown residents conducted in June “demonstrate that there is an opportunity to succeed.”

The difference this time, he said, is the difficult economic climate and the proposal that liquor licenses would be restricted to restaurants at the mall, which is faltering.

“We have 27 vacancies and the stores that remain are not performing very well,” Coradino said.

He believes that high-end restaurants that serve liquor, combined with a new 12-screen movie theater, will draw the crowds that the mall needs to succeed. His belief is based on the success of the Cherry Hill Mall, also owned by PREIT.

Moorestown Mall is the largest single taxpayer in Moorestown, according to tax assessor Dennis DeKlerk. For tax purposes, the property is valued at more than $111 million, but PREIT is in the process of appealing that assessment in state tax court, said DeKlerk. In 2010, PREIT paid more than $2.2 million in property taxes on the mall. Approximately $362,100 went to the municipal budget, and approximately $1,385,089 went to Moorestown schools, he said.

In a letter to Moorestown residents, PREIT estimated that the sale of liquor licenses would generate $4 million in revenue for the town. Based on its current population, Moorestown would be entitled under state law to issue as many as six licenses. In addition to this one-time influx of money, the sale of alcohol at Moorestown Mall would also generate $500,000 a year in property taxes through increased real estate values, Coradino said.

Mayor John Button tentatively approved of the proposal.

“The revenue side of our budget needs help,” said Button. “If I can become convinced that this business case is real, that it will produce the kind of financial benefit that he puts forth in this letter, and that it will not negatively impact the town, then I would very carefully have to consider it."

Opponents are skeptical. Moorestown resident Mary Ann Fallows, who spoke out against the last liquor referendum, doesn’t believe that the sale of alcoholic beverages will generate as much revenue as PREIT claims, and she doesn’t believe that licenses can be restricted to the mall only.

“This changes the character of our town,” said Fallows. “It seems to me there could be other options without liquor.”

Her sentiments were echoed by other opponents, including White. She would like to see proof that the sale of liquor would save the mall and that it can be limited to the mall.

“Moorestown has a tradition of being a quiet, family town. It’s part of the charm of Moorestown that it’s a dry town, and it has its little quirks,” said White. “It’s not that it’s opposed to alcohol. It’s not that people don’t enjoy a drink. They just like to keep that problem outside its borders.

“I would like to have a good reason to change that, a documented reason, not just ‘This would save the mall,’” she said. “Prove it.”

 

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