State College Borough Council unanimously approved a liquor license transfer last night for a restaurant whose owner has accumulated numerous health violations over the past four years.

Council approved transferring the license from the Hummingbird Room restaurant in Gregg Township to the Chinese and Japanese restaurant Fuji and Jade Garden, 418 Westerly Parkway.

Fuji and Jade Garden owner Jing Mei Jiang also owns Hunan Wok, 452 E. College Ave., which the borough's health department closed for four days earlier this month because of the severity of its repeated health violations, including food at unsafe temperatures and dirty conditions.

"I don't think anybody on this council wanted to grant this license," council member Jeff Kern said after the meeting. "We think if they're going to violate the food ordinance, they're going to violate the liquor ordinance."

But Kern said members felt forced to approve the license while they have the ability to put conditions on the license. Conditions that Jiang must comply with include no alcoholic beverages exceeding 22 ounces, no alcoholic beverage advertising and no serving alcohol when the kitchen is closed.

If they had denied the license, Kern said, Jiang could appeal to the state Liquor Control Board, which could grant the license without conditions.

"We're afraid that if we denied it, we were taking the risk they would grant it anyway," he said. "The Liquor Control Board is not worried about the food service process."

Council also restricted Jiang from serving alcohol after 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and after 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Bands and disc jockeys are also not permitted in the restaurant.

The conditions also limit the bar to a maximum of 10 seats and prohibit smoking in the entire restaurant. Eighty percent of gross revenue for the business must be comprised of food sales for each two-year liquor license renewal period.

Jiang's attorney, Stanley Wolowski, who did not attend the meeting, said earlier in the day that he would be satisfied with the approval despite the conditions. He said he made it clear during a Nov. 16 council public hearing that Jiang wanted the license simply for a complement to food.

"The conditions incorporate what I had represented during my presentation at the hearing," said Wolowski, of Pittsburgh-based Flaherty and O'Hara attorneys. "We're going to be a genuine restaurant, not a bar."

Wolowski said he doesn't think Jiang's history of health violations means he will be irresponsible with the liquor license.

"I really don't foresee that to be a problem," he said. "The owner realizes that he made some mistakes as far as the health violations, and he is committed to rectifying them and trying harder."

Council also slightly loosened the restaurant's conditions after member Jim Meyer made a motion to allow the sale of draft beer under 22 ounces. The original conditions had prohibited draft beer because Wolowski said Jiang had no interest in selling it.

"I think the drinking problem in this town is with hard liquor," Meyer said. "I think down the line [Jiang] might want to put a tap in."

Council approved the motion 5-2 with members Cathy Dauler and Elizabeth Goreham dissenting.

"I don't know why we're trying to give permission to something they voluntarily said they wouldn't do," Goreham said.

Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said that it is the Liquor Control Board's responsibility to enforce the license.

In other business, council approved restricting parking for 150 feet on West Sparks Street south of Foster Avenue and restricting right turns on a red light from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Atherton Street and Park Avenue intersection for northbound traffic.