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McCann schools near Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton stop accepting students

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The city&#8217;s Zoning Hearing Board approved a restaurant owner&#8217;s request Wednesday to add a hookah lounge and bottle club to his business in a South Main Street shopping plaza.</p><p>Paulino Nunez, who owns La Villa restaurant at 369 S. Main St., had originally wanted to open a bring-your-own-bottle, after hours club, but said he withdrew when he found out it wasn&#8217;t allowed.</p><p>He resubmitted his application and asked for a special exception to open the lounge and for variances to significantly reduce the buffer zone between the bottle club and nearby residences and churches.</p><p>City zoning calls for a bottle club to be located 1,000 feet from an area zoned R-3 residential and from churches. The variances reduced the distance to 18 feet in the R-3 zone and between 400 and 600 feet from the churches.</p><p>Gary Druby, owner of Abe&#8217;s Hot Dogs on South Main Street, commended Nunez for cleaning up the plaza and noted that a Chinese restaurant in the plaza and another business nearby have liquor licenses. In addition, there&#8217;s a state Wine and Spirits store in the plaza, Druby said.</p><p>But he told the board he was worried about the precedent it was setting by reducing the variance to 18 feet. He also questioned Nunez about hours of operation for the club.</p><p>&#8220;I really don&#8217;t think a hookah bar and bottle bar is a good fit for the neighborhood,&#8221; Druby said.</p><p>Nunez said he will be at the bottle club and it will close at 2 a.m. &#8220;Any complaining, any issues that you might have you come to me,&#8221; he said.</p><p>As for acquiring a liquor license, Nunez said he has no plans to buy one any time soon.</p><p>&#8220;I would love to have one. They&#8217;re very expensive,&#8221; Nunez said, adding the cost could be as high as $90,000.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre zoning board OKs hookah lounge and bottle club