A Swarthmore Borough ordinance is putting some restrictions on certain businesses that might want to set up shop, writes Denali Sagner for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Swarthmore Borough Council approved the ordinance last month, regulating where certain types of businesses can operate.
The list includes drug paraphernalia stores, firing ranges, gun shops, marijuana dispensaries, tobacco shops, smoke shops, vape shops, hookah bars, cabarets, and non-medical massage parlors.
Those businesses will have to be located 400 feet from any school, childcare center, community center, library, park, playground, or house of worship.
The businesses must also be 1,000 feet from each other.
Letting “sensitive and regulated use” businesses expand in Swarthmore would result in “undesirable impacts on the community,” including the potential sale of sensitive goods to minors and “negative aesthetic impacts,” according to the ordinance.
Businesses can still request a special exemption from the zoning hearing board if they want to open in a non-permissible location.
Council member David Boonin said the measure is “overly restrictive,” especially for medical marijuana storefronts, a “medical service” for people, he said.
He and council member Jared Therrien voted against the ordinance.
Read more about Swarthmore’s location restrictions on certain businesses in the borough in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
