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Tarpon Looks To Restrict Chain Retailers, Restaurants

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: September 5, 2008

Updated:

TARPON SPRINGS - City commissioners want to control where chain-store businesses and restaurants can locate within the city.

At Tuesday nights City Commission meeting, Assistant City Attorney Shauna Morris introduced proposed revisions to the municipal land development code that if approved would ban chain stores and restaurants, referred to as "formula businesses," from the Sponge Docks and in the downtown historic district.

The City Commission gave the concept behind the possible revisions its tentative approval.

Under the proposed land code change the chain outlets are designated "formula businesses."

"Formula Businesses are increasing in number in the city," the proposed ordinance that would alter the land code declares.

"The increase, if not monitored and regulated, will hamper the city's goal of a diverse retail base," it states, adding, "Unregulated establishment of additional Formula Businesses may unduly limit or eliminate business opportunities for smaller or medium size businesses."

Formula businesses can have a competitive advantage over independent operators because their large size gives them more economic clout,. the proposed ordinance states.

Formula businesses would be strictly regulated and permitted as a conditional use granted by the City Commission only in specified areas. The City Commission would grant a conditional use on a case-by-case basis based on compatibility standards, Morris said.

For example, it would limit to one the number of chain restaurants that could be built at any single development within a restricted district.

Before the meeting, Commissioner Robin Saegner, when asked if the revision would block chains restaurant from coming into the city, responded Tarpon Springs has all the chain stores and restaurants it needs.

The proposal comes at a time when the city is considering ways to foster economic development in its downtown and at the Sponge Docks, both of which are dotted with similar-type businesses, empty restaurants and storefronts.

The plan to control or even eliminate chain businesses within the city is an outgrowth of an attempt by some Tarpon Springs officials and residents to prohibit big-box retailer Wal-Mart from building one of its Supercenter stores on a site on the Anclote River, along U.S. 19.

Dory Larsen, an environmentalist who has fought the local Wal-Mart, said adding the proposed formula business language to the land code would enable the city to preserve its cultural heritage.

In order to receive a conditional use permit a formula business would have to show city commissioners it is compatible with existing surrounding uses. In addition, it would have to operate in a manner that preserved the community's character and ambiance.

The scale, mass, intensity, location, size, height, style and aesthetics of a proposed formula business structure would factor into compatibility decisions.

The city could not entirely ban formula businesses, Morris said. In order to stand up to a court challenge, the amended land code would have to set forth compelling reason for keeping a chain unit out of certain commercial districts and neighborhoods.

One court has held a South Florida city did not prove it had a special ambiance that precluded a chain business from opening shop there, she noted.

City commissioners voiced approval for the draft land code revision and decided to refine it further at a future work session.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

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