City Council Considering Toledo Convenience Store Limits

Source from:  By JC REINDL BLADE STAFF WRITER 09/05/2007

Licensing, spacing mulled for security Toledo City Council members are considering establishing a licensing system for convenience stores that proponents say could help defend neighborhoods against "nuisance" stores that feed criminal behavior. While the licensing proposal has yet to be drafted, council members at yesterday's committee-of-the-whole meeting showed support for a system that would apply to all the city's more than 275 convenience stores and groceries. It would involve annual renewals and behavior reviews by a task force of city administrators. Stores' licenses could be revoked if they fail to abide by the regulations. The licensing concept also drew support from leaders of several community development corporations and a representative of a convenience store chain. "It's going to be a great benefit in our older neighborhoods, where we have a glut of these predatory convenience stores," said Beth Lewandowski, president of Lagrange Village Council. The licensing is one of two recently proposed strategies to bring additional regulation to convenience stores that sell alcohol and cigarettes. Council is scheduled Tuesday to consider adding spacing requirements to the zoning code for convenience stores. Those requirements would prohibit a convenience store from operating within 2,000 feet of another convenience store, or within 1,000 feet of a school, public library, or other places established for minors. A moratorium against new convenience stores has been in effect with one brief exception since August, 2006. The present moratorium, which applies only to areas covered by the city's 11 nonprofit community development corporations, is scheduled to expire Sept. 15. Supporters of stricter regulations argue that convenience stores have saturated Toledo and are attracting crime, alcoholism, prostitution, drug use, and other unsavory elements. Critics say some Toledo stores stock paraphernalia, such as disguised crack pipes and small plastic bags for powder drugs. Councilman Rob Ludeman said that any licensing fee should be nominal because the city is looking to control convenience stores rather than raise money from them. He also said he considers licensing a better way of regulating the stores than the proposed spacing restrictions. "I don't think you need both," Mr. Ludeman said. "I think this is a much more equitable solution to eliminating the problem of bad convenience stores." Bruce Rinker, an attorney representing Speedway SuperAmerica, which has about a dozen Toledo-area stores, spoke at the meeting in favor of a licensing system. He said that licensing would be "a fairer way to evaluate" individual convenience stores rather than having across-the-board measures against all such stores. However, Terry Glazer, chief executive officer of United North, said that spacing requirements still would be needed under a licensing system. He noted how the zoning code contained spacing requirements for convenience stores until 2004, when they were written out. "Do you want kids running in and out of [convenience stores] on a regular basis?" he asked. "The spacing requirement hopefully still is on the table so that we're looking at this issue in a comprehensive manner." Enditem