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Chester council hears first reading to add smoke shops, tobacco stores to zoning with distance limits
Summary
At a June 23 deliberative meeting, City of Chester staff presented Bill 3, a first reading zoning text amendment to permit smoke shops and tobacco stores in the Central Business District and Medium Industrial Commercial District as conditional uses with 500-foot and 1,000-foot separation rules.
At the City of Chester deliberative meeting on June 23, council members heard the first reading of Bill number 3, a zoning text amendment to Part 13 (Planning and Zoning) that would permit smoke shops and tobacco stores — including hookah bars — in the Central Business District (CBD) and the Medium Industrial Commercial (MIC) District as conditional uses.
The amendment would add the uses to the city's zoning ordinance and impose location limits, including a 500-foot buffer from schools, day cares, churches and similar institutions and a 1,000-foot separation between smoke shops to prevent clustering, city staff said during the presentation.
Paul, a staff member who presented the proposal, said the change is meant to regulate a use that currently is not addressed in the ordinance. "The purpose of this is it's a zoning ordinance text amendment to address smoke shops and tobacco stores," Paul said, adding that the proposal covers hookah bars. He told council the change would place the new land use in the use table and that, under current rules, such a use would normally fall under a general retail category that is permitted in most nonresidential districts.
Paul said there are no pending applicants for new smoke shops in the city at this time. He also said existing, nonconforming uses would be grandfathered, and the 1,000-foot separation would apply to future applicants. When asked whether the daycare across from a downtown retailer would block locations in the CBD, Paul showed a map during the presentation and said the buffers limit where a new store could locate within the CBD.
The measure had its first reading; no final vote was recorded at the deliberative meeting. A public hearing on the draft ordinance was referenced as forthcoming during a later public agenda item and committee review, but no hearing date was specified in the meeting record.
Pending next steps include the scheduled public hearing and any council amendments; the transcript records council questions about buffering, maps and where the use would be permitted.
Provenance: The council agenda and staff summary of Bill 3 were read into the record near the start of the meeting, and Paul's presentation and council questions about buffers and maps occurred during the Bill 3 discussion.
