A referendum approved Tuesday to permit liquor sales in West Lampeter Township is not expected to lead to an onslaught of new establishments in the municipality, officials said Wednesday.

"Honestly, I see this as having very little effect on the township right now," township manager Dee Dee McGuire said.

"As I understand it, only four liquor licenses are permitted," she said. "Obviously, that's a very limited amount, which I think also limits the possibilities. Plus, there's the whole process of obtaining a license in the first place.

"So are you going to see establishments popping up all over the place next week selling alcohol? No."

In fact, Willow Valley Resort officials, who spearheaded the liquor referendum so they can proceed with an $8 million hotel project, said they expect it to take months to secure a liquor license.

"We don't have a particular date when we would like to have a license in hand," Sheryl Holzbauer, executive vice president of Willow Valley Associates, said Wednesday.

"We plan to be converted to a DoubleTree resort by summer 2010, so obviously we'd like to have it well in advance of that."

Holzbauer said a hotel license will be sought for the resort. That kind of license would be nontransferable and would be limited to the Willow Valley property, she said.

When asked if she thought permitting liquor sales in the municipality would open the door to a spurt of new establishments, Holzbauer said she thought it was a possibility, but would have positive results.

"I liken this to other townships in the area which are similar to West Lampeter," she said. "I mean, I don't see any negative impacts. If anything, I think this provides the opportunity for additional dining options for residents in our township as well as the southern part of the county."

McGuire said she wasn't surprised by Tuesday's vote, and said most of the calls the township received prior to Tuesday were from people who simply wanted more information rather than to voice disapproval.

Both McGuire and Joellyn Warren, the township's director of community development, pointed out that anyone with a liquor license who wants to open an establishment in West Lampeter will need to go through a standard land development process and submit plans requiring approval from planners and the board of supervisors.

"We don't control who has a liquor license, but we do control land use," Warren said. "If you're coming in here as a restaurant or tavern, or any business, you have to comply with the township's zoning ordinances."

The same codes would apply to all establishments, whether they serve liquor or not, she said.

"I know this was a big question for the residents of the township and for the township itself," Holzbauer said of the referendum. "But I think this creates a lot of great possibilities for the community and I think people recognized that."

E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com