Full-Service Gas Ordinance Could End In Local Borough
MOUNT PLEASANT (KDKA) -- People in one Westmoreland County town may soon be pumping their own gas if a decades-old ordinance that requires full service pumps is changed this week by the borough council.
Naveed Chowdrhy has been running the Valero station on Main Street in Mount Pleasant for about eight months.
He says the borough's ordinance is making it impossible for his business to survive.
The ordinance was started to assure easy service for the handicapped and elderly, but Chowdry says that's only about 4 percent of his customers.
"Very small part of business we have senior citizens," he told KDKA-TV.
He says operating full service pumps requires an extra employee and also keeps people from coming inside to by snacks, cold drinks and what he touts as the best coffee in town.
That's why he's asking for a compromise.
Mayor Jerry Lucia says gas station owners have tried unsuccessfully to change the ordinance in the past, but Chowdrhy and the other station in town have made a unique proposal.
"They have offered to have several days of full service so that's giving an offer to the citizens that they can still have full service on those particular days," he said.
Chowdrhy's station is even taking it a step further.
"Seven days a week if you're elderly or handicapped or phobic about pumping your own gas, just ask and we'll be right out there to help," Beth Lovar, a gas station employee, said.
The borough council will hold a public meeting about the proposed ordinance change at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before voting on the issue.
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