BUFFALO, N.Y. — When Gigi's Restaurant closed after a fire in 2015, residents wondered what would become of the building. 

Three years later, those who live near the East Ferry Street building are trying to prevent a liquor store from filling the space. The former owners sold the building earlier this year, deciding to reopen instead in the Northland Corridor.

Buffalo Common Council Member Ulysses Wingo invited State Liquor Authority Deputy Commissioner David Edmunds Jr. to address their concerns during a public meeting Monday night. Edmunds discussed the application process for obtaining a liquor license. 

Edmunds says that process generally comes down to one question: whether the community is being "adequately served" by the stores already within the community.

Residents at the meeting said the answer to that question is a resounding yes, because there are several stores nearby.

Edmunds said part of the process will also be community feedback, saying that letters and petition signatures do carry some weight.

Jaylah Bell of Girl Scout Troop 30294 read a letter at the meeting opposing the liquor store, displaying 18 pages of signatures that she collected at churches and businesses.

Bell was inspired after her mother asked her why she didn't want a liquor store.

"I told her because it's considered the ghetto, and we don't want it to build down. We want it to build up, so my mom asked me if I wanted to do a petition for people who also agreed with me," Bell said.

Edmunds says the liquor authority tries to make a decision on applications within 45-60 days, but because it would be a new liquor store, the full board has to review it, adding an additional two to four weeks to the process.

If the application is approved, the building's new owner, Tsegai Mesfin, will still have to get the approval of the Buffalo Zoning Board and, if approved there, it goes on to the Common Council. Wingo says he will follow his constituents' lead and vote against a liquor store.