Dec 21, 2017 3 min read

A new pizza restaurant opening in North Strabane Township in January wants to have a “bring your own beer or wine” option for its customers.

Uncle KoKo’s WoodFired Pizzaria is set to open Jan. 6 at 900 Wildflower Drive, in the Planet Fitness plaza. The pizzeria, which prides itself on authentic Italian, wood-fired pies, opened its first location in Belle Vernon in 2016.

“Belle Vernon was kind of a test location for us, to see if this idea could really take off,” said general manager Nick Jeremiah. “This Washington location is probably going to be our pride and joy.”

Owner Kodey Suomela said he wanted customers to be able to bring their own wine with them to dine at the new restaurant because that’s how it’s done in Italy.

“My grandfather was from Italy,” he said. “In Italy you’re allowed to bring a bottle of wine and they’ll provide you with a glass.”

Suomela said some of their customers at the Belle Vernon location had asked the new restaurant have a BYOB option, in part because a glass of wine is expensive when ordered out.

“We’re not going to let people go in there and get drunk,” Suomela said. “And everyone will be carded.”

The township supervisors have not decided whether they will regulate the restaurant’s BYOB option, but they discussed options during a Tuesday meeting.

Typically, restaurants that sell alcohol and six-pack shops need to get a liquor license approved by township supervisors. The township’s solicitor, Gary Sweat, said while the township doesn’t have the power to outlaw the BYOB practice, they do have the authority to create an ordinance that would regulate it.

The township doesn’t currently have an ordinance addressing BYOB operations, but the supervisors said they may discuss such an ordinance later.

“I’m not in favor of making more laws,” Supervisor Robert Balogh said. “We have enough already.”

In other action Tuesday, the supervisors rejected, on a 3-2 vote, a change to the township’s zoning map.

The proposed map would have changed a portion of the northeastern part of the township from an agricultural area zoned A1 to an A2 zone, which also is agricultural land, but with sewer access or potential sewer access and with higher-intensity residential development.

Supervisors Sonia Stopperich Sulc and Brian Spicer were in favor of the change. Now that it’s been rejected, the board has no other plans to change the township’s current zoning maps, according to township manager Frank Siffrin.

At the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Balogh presented plaques of appreciation to Stopperich Sulc and Spicer, who will not be on the board next year, having lost in the primary and general elections, respectively. Stopperich Sulc served six years on the board, and Spicer served as chairman of the board for 25 years.