A proposed ordinance the Columbus City Council is slated to consider today could lead to early closing times for convenience stores in or near residential areas.
City attorney Jeff Turnage said the proposed ordinance, if councilmen approve it, would mandate a 10 p.m. close on Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. for Friday and Saturday for convenience stores in single-family residence neighborhoods. The same restriction would apply to convenience stores in neighborhood-commercial districts that are within 50 feet of a single-family residential property, and convenience stores in highway commercial districts within 50 feet of a single-family residential neighborhood and 175 feet of a multi-family zone property.
Convenience stores impacted by the ordinance could not open before 4:30 a.m.
Turnage said the proposal was born out of a series of town hall meetings city officials held after four people were injured in a March shooting at Sim Scott Park. A CPD official told The Dispatch on Monday that Kale Scott and Kenny Armstead are suspects in the shooting. Both are in custody on unrelated charges.
“I went to three out of four, and at several of them there were numerous comments made about convenience stores and large groups gathering at convenience stores late at night, making noise and getting in fights and such,” Turnage said. “Most complaints were related to stores in or immediately joining residential neighborhoods.”
Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem, whose ward houses Sim Scott Park, told The Dispatch on Monday he supports the proposed ordinance. He said many of the convenience stores that would be impacted by the new ordinance are within Ward 5, and the city should take action to curb late-night incidents.
“These stores have been a haven for illicit activities, as well as behaviors,” Karriem said. “That’s when it was brought to our attention — I brought it before the council that we need to have an ordinance to curtail some of those activities.”
Karriem said he wasn’t aware of any push back from convenience store owners over an ordinance change potentially hurting business. Still, he said the ordinance was something the city should do, even if it negatively impacts some businesses, as a safety measure.
“This country is built on laws and we have to abide by them,” Karriem said. “Whether it was smoking bans or teenage curfews, wherever there’s a problem, we need to have preventive measures in place that will curtail some of the activities we’ve had in these places.”
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box said he’d like to see some adjustments to the proposed ordinance. He said he’d prefer the ordinance to apply only to convenience stores that are identified as a nuisance, rather than as a broad measure.
“As far as just arbitrarily saying that all 7-11s are going to close at a certain time — I don’t know that I’m for that,” he said. “We’ve got several places where people are gathering and causing problems and I can see doing something there, but the first thing that has to be done I think, is that it has to be declared a nuisance.”
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor also supported the ordinance.
“I think it’s a great idea to cut down some of the late-night traffic,” Taylor said. “We know that if someone is out there at 1 or 2 in the morning, they’re not buying milk and ice cream. I think it would cut down on the potential crime activities that go on throughout the city.”
The council meets at 5 p.m. today at the Municipal Complex.
Dispatch reporter Isabelle Altman contributed to this report.
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