At the beginning of Monday’s Planning and Zoning meeting, the agenda was modified by meeting Chair Lillian Szpak to add an innocuous-sounding “Text Amendment to Zoning Bylaw”. At the end of the meeting, it turned out to be a far more interesting proposal than its name suggested. And while there has been a limited amount of media coverage of the issue, there are elements of this story that have not yet been reported.
The proposal was to limit where stores selling “adult paraphenalia” can be zoned, and it was added to the agenda at the last minute at the request of the City Clerk Administrator. The initial proposal was to not allow them to be zoned within “half a mile” of schools, parks, and recreational facilities. Immediately upon the proposal being detailed to the committee, visible surprise showed on the faces of many of the committee members. Read the rest of this entry »
