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Commission moves draft tobacco/smoke‑shop ordinance to work session after members question radius and nonconforming uses
Summary
Staff presented a draft ordinance making tobacco/smoke shops conditional uses in Town Center and Commercial Service districts with a 500‑foot separation from schools and similar uses. Commissioners asked for solicitor input on the 500‑foot radius, the 20% retail threshold and grandfathering of existing nonconforming stores and moved the draft to the next work session.
On July 13 the West Chester Borough Planning Commission considered a draft ordinance that would classify tobacco and smoke shops as a conditional use in Town Center (TC) and Commercial Service (CS) districts, with a 500‑foot separation from specified sensitive uses such as schools, day cares and libraries.
Staff (S2) said the ordinance was drafted after a recent zoning determination allowed a retail shop selling tobacco products to continue in a location near Mount Saint Agnes and a bus stop; the proposal is intended to limit the concentration of dedicated tobacco/smoke shops in parts of the town center. The draft uses a 20% retail‑area threshold to distinguish a convenience store (which may sell tobacco among many other items) from a dedicated tobacco/smoke shop.
Commissioners asked several clarifying questions: why the draft uses 500 feet instead of a larger radius used elsewhere, how the 20% threshold would affect convenience stores and whether existing nonconforming uses (residential above a store, or corner stores) would be grandfathered. One commissioner suggested the rule should not create new nonconformities where residential units currently exist above retail. Staff recommended moving the ordinance to the work session and asked the solicitor to review separation distances and definitions before public hearing.
Next step: The commission moved the ordinance to a work session for further legal review and to invite the draft’s author (Lisa) and the solicitor to that discussion; staff will check whether a public hearing is already scheduled and will confirm notice requirements.
