|
Store
Size Caps
Store Size Caps
Dozens of communities, recognizing
that their local economies can absorb
only so much new retail without causing
numerous existing businesses to close,
have enacted zoning rules that prohibit
stores over a certain size. Store size
caps help to sustain the vitality of
small-scale, pedestrian-oriented
business districts, which in turn
nurture local business development.
Store size caps prevent the many
negative impacts of big box development,
such as increased traffic congestion and
over-burdened public infrastructure, and
they protect the character of the
community by ensuring that new
development is at a scale in keeping
with existing buildings.
Store size caps keep out some
national retailers that refuse to build
outlets smaller than their standard
formats. Others will opt to comply with
community's size limit by designing
smaller stores.
What constitutes an appropriate upper
limit for the size of retail stores
depends on many factors, including the
size of the town, the scale of its
existing buildings, and its long-term
goals with regard to retail development.
Some communities have banned only the
biggest of the big boxes. Belfast,
Maine, for example, caps stores at
75,000 square feet. Others, like Hailey,
Idaho, and Ashland, Oregon, have chosen
much smaller limits (36,000 and 45,000
square feet). (For a visual illustration
of various store sizes, see How
Big is Too Big?)
Like all zoning laws, size caps can
apply to the entire city or just a to
particular neighborhood. San Francisco,
for example, bars new stores larger than
4,000 square feet from locating in
certain neighborhoods. In the West, some
counties have adopted store size caps to
keep big box retailers from building in
unincorporated areas beyond city
boundaries. Outside of the United State,
where land use policy is typically set
at the national, rather than local,
level, some countries, including Ireland
and Norway, have adopted nationwide
store size caps.
In some cases retailers have tried to
get around a size cap by building two or
more adjacent stores (see "Wal-Mart
Tries to Skirt Maryland Size Cap
Law"). Communities
can avoid this by structuring the
definitions within their ordinances to
treat retailers occupying multiple
buildings as a single retail use subject
to the cap. For example, see Hailey,
Idaho and Agoura
Hills, California.
RULES:
NEIGHBORHOOD
Brookside
- Kansas City, MO
In November 2000, the Kansas City
Council voted to approve two new
ordinances that will protect the
Brookside neighborhood from large-scale,
suburban-style chain store development.
The first creates the Brookside Business
District as a special zoning district,
with its own rules and requirements. The
second restricts retail uses in the area
to 10,000 square feet, except for
grocery stores, which may be as large as
25,000 square feet; prohibits
drive-through restaurants and other
rules.
North
Beach - San Francisco, CA
In response to San Francisco
residents' and merchants' concerns,
including increased traffic congestion,
proliferation of food service uses, the
loss of neighborhood-oriented businesses
and changes in the local neighborhood
character, the City and County of San
Francisco created Neighborhood
Commercial Individual Area Districts
(NCDs) in 1987. These NCDs were
established in many San Francisco
neighborhoods, including North Beach.
Part of the NCD rules relate to limiting
large retail outlets.
CITYWIDE
Agoura
Hills, CA
In 2002, voters in Agoura Hills, a
community 20 miles north of Los Angeles,
adopted a measure limiting stores to no
more than 60,000 square feet. Note that
the ordinance's definitions are designed
to prevent retailers from evading the
size cap by building two or more
adjacent stores.
Ashland,
OR
Ashland, a town of 17,000 in southern
Oregon, has a citywide ordinance
limiting retail stores to no more than
45,000 square feet.
Belfast,
ME
In 2001, after Wal-Mart optioned
land on the outskirts of Belfast, Maine,
a community of 6,500 in the fast-growing
midcoast region, the city council
adopted a temporary moratorium on large
stores and placed an initiative
permanently banning stores over 75,000
square feet on the ballot.
Bennington,
VT
In January 2005, the town of Bennington,
home to 9,200 people and located in the
southwest corner of Vermont, enacted the
following ordinance. It bans stores over
75,000 square feet in one commercial
district and 50,000 square feet in the
rest of the town. It requires
proposals for stores over 30,000 square
feet to submit to a community impact
review conducted by an independent
consultant chosen by the city. The
cost of the review is to be paid by the
developer.
Boxborough,
MA
At their town hall meeting in March
2000, residents of Boxborough voted to
limit the size of new retail development
to 25,000 square feet. The measure
required a two-thirds margin to pass. It
was unanimously recommended by the Board
of Selectmen.
Bozeman,
MT
In February 2003, the city of
Bozeman, Montana, enacted an ordinance
limiting retail stores to no more than
75,000 square feet. The measure makes
permanent a temporary moratorium on
construction of large retail stores
adopted in 2002.
Easton,
MD
Prompted by several applications for
retail development in excess of 500,000
square feet, larger than anything
anticipated by the town's existing
Comprehensive Plan, the Easton Town
Council enacted a temporary moratorium
on new "big box" retail stores
in September 1999. In March 2000, the
Town Council adopted an ordinance which
prohibits retail stores larger than
65,000 square feet and bars the Board of
Zoning Appeals from granting a variance
to allow a larger store.
Hailey,
ID
The town of Hailey, Idaho limits the
roof area of retail and commercial
buildings to 36,000 square feet in all
of its business districts, except the
Service Commercial Industrial District,
where roof areas are limited to 25,000
sq. ft.. As structured, the ordinance
would allow for a store with a larger
total floor area, but only if it were
multi-story, so that its footprint did
not exceed the 36,000 sq. ft. cap.
Homer,
AK
After two years of
consideration---including a review by a
city council-appointed task force,
numerous public hearings, and a voter
referendum---the city of Homer, Alaska,
has capped the size of retail stores at
25,000-45,000 square feet and adopted a
community impact review process for
proposed retail developments over 15,000
square feet.
North
Elba (Village of Lake Placid), NY
Residents of North Elba, New York
spent five years trying to stop Wal-Mart
from erecting an 80,000 square foot
store within their town. The town's
planning board rejected the retailer's
plans in January 1996. The planning
board was sued by Wal-Mart, which
claimed its decision was
unsubstantiated, arbitrary and
capricious. A New York appellate court
upheld the planning board decision. The
ordeal prompted the community to enact a
size ordinance limiting single retail
stores to 40,000 square feet and capping
shopping centers at 68,000 square feet.
Northhampton,
MA
In May 2002, the Northampton City
Council enacted ordinances prohibiting
retail stores larger than 90,000 square
feet, and requiring that developers
proposing stores larger than 20,000
square feet either construct
pedestrian-friendly, two-story buildings
contiguous to the street or pay a $5 per
square foot mitigation fee. The fee will
be used to fund economic development
activities designed to offset the impact
of retail sprawl on downtown businesses.
Rockville,
MD
In August 2000, the city of
Rockville enacted the following
ordinance, which bans stores over 65,000
square feet and requires those over
25,000 square feet to comply with design
and siting guidelines.
Santa
Fe, NM
In July 2001, the city of Santa Fe,
New Mexico, adopted the following
ordinance prohibiting retail stores
larger than 150,000 square feet and
requiring stores over 30,000 square feet
to comply with architectural and site
design standards.
Skaneateles,
NY
After three consecutive six-month
building moratoria in response to a
proposal to construct a 150,000 square
feet shopping center, this small town of
7,500 people adopted a comprehensive
town plan which included a zoning
restriction limiting retail stores to no
more than 45,000 square feet and
shopping center sites to no more than 15
acres.
Taos,
NM
In September 1999, the town of Taos
enacted an ordinance restricting
construction of large retail stores. The
measure bans new stores that exceed
80,000 square feet and requires
developers to obtain a special permit to
build stores over 30,000 square feet.
Walpole,
NH
On March 14, 2000, the residents of
Walpole voted 3 to 1 to enact a 40,000
square foot size limit on new retail
stores and restaurants. The new law was
adopted following attempts by Wal-Mart
to build in the community in 1999. The
retailer withdrew in response to strong
opposition from residents.
Warwick,
NY
The town of Warwick, New York, a
rural community about one hour north of
Manhattan, enacted a new Comprehensive
Plan in 1999 and a new Zoning Code in
early 2002. The Comprehensive Plan calls
for supporting "small, locally
owned businesses and retail centers. The
Zoning Code bars stores over 60,000
square feet and shopping centers with
multiple stores that together exceed
80,000 square feet.
Westford,
MA
Even though Westford, MA beat back a
Wal-Mart in 1994, the Town Meeting soon
after added future protection by
prohibiting the building of large retail
developments (over 60,000 sq. ft.) and
making it harder to build 30,000 -
60,000 sq. ft. developments by requiring
that they apply for special permits,
allowing time for citizen input and
review by planning boards.
Other
Examples
See some other examples of retail
business size limitations.
COUNTY
Coconino
County, Arizona (Flagstaff)
In August 2001, the Coconino County
Board of Supervisors adopted the
following ordinance, which prohibits
retails stores larger than 70,000 square
feet and requires a conditional use
permit for those larger than 25,000
square feet.
Talbot
County, MD
In 2003, the Talbot County Council
enacted an ordinance barring stores over
65,000 square feet from locating in any
area of the county outside of the
boundarires of incorporated cities and
towns. Lowe's, a national home
improvement chain, gathered signatures
to force a ballot referendum on the size
cap in November 2004. But voters upheld
the cap in a 53 to 47 percent vote.
Tuolumne
County, CA
In January 2004, the Tuolumne
County Board of Supervisors voted
unanimously to ban retail outlets over
60,000 square feet (about half the size
of the average Home Depot store).
INTERNATIONAL
Ireland
In 1998, the Irish government
enacted a temporary cap on the size of
retail stores. The policy was made
permanent in 2001. The law restricts
stores in the Dublin area to 3,500
square meters (38,000 sq. ft.) and
applies a 3,000 square meter (32,000 sq.
ft.) limit to the rest of the country.
The policy also requires that retail
stores be located in town centers
whenever possible.
Norway
Many countries have taken steps to
limit or bar large-scale retail stores
and malls, particularly in areas outside
of city centers. The intent of these
laws is to protect existing local retail
districts and to prevent urban sprawl
and automobile dependency. A Norwegian
law enacted in January 1999, placed a
five year moratorium on the construction
of retail centers larger than 3000
square meters (32,300 square feet).
More:
Copyright
1999-2005 - Institute
for Local Self-Reliance
The
New Rules Project - http://www.newrules.org/
http://www.newrules.org/retail/size.html
|
