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Memo to Mayor and City Council <br />August 19, 1996 <br /> <br />Page 3 <br /> <br />Zones <br /> <br />All of the ordinances reviewed allow pawn shops in at least one of their <br />commercial zones. The commercial zones in which they are allowed seem to <br />be general business or highway commercial type zones. <br /> <br />The highway commercial zones are more accessible, are found in wider areas <br />of the city but the opportunity for conflicting uses is greater because of the <br />proximity to schools, parks, daycare centers and residences. However, pawn <br />shops from a land use perspective are a retail land use and would most <br />appropriately fit into the highway commercial zone <br /> <br />Conditions and Performance Standards <br /> <br />All of the cities surveyed had conditions or performance standards of some <br />type. Restrictions limiting the hours of operation was a common condition. <br />Five of the seven cities limited the hours of operation. Elk River currently <br />limits the hours of operation to 7am to 9pm Monday through Saturday. <br />Regulation of hours of operation will be included in the updated licensing <br />procedure. <br /> <br />Setbacks from certain land uses was a condition in three cities. Blaine and <br />Brooklyn Park require a 300 foot setback between pawn shops and a church <br />or a school. Richfield requires a 1000 foot setback from schools, churches, <br />daycare facilities, library, government building or other pawn shops and a <br />250 foot setback from any residential zone. Elk River currently has no <br />restrictions on separation from other land uses. <br /> <br />Setbacks from incompatible land uses would support the City's ordinance in <br />that the ordinance will prohibit minors from conducting pawn transactions. <br />Therefore, it seems reasonable to require a setback from land uses directed <br />towards youth such as schools, day care centers, parks and residential zones <br />and the proposed ordinance will reflect that. <br /> <br />Planning Commission Meeting <br /> <br />At the Planning Commission meeting of July 23, 1996, the Commission <br />discussed the possibility of including pawn shops as a conditional use in the <br />light industrial zone and in the business park zone. <br /> <br />However, by allowing them in industrial zones they are being allowed in <br />areas with limited accessibility and not usually conducive for retail type uses. <br />Also by allowing them in industrial and business park zones the City would <br />be introducing a retail land use into a zone in which it is not really <br /> <br />s:\planningkscottXoa96-8cc.doc <br /> <br /> <br />