This September, Burlington Town Meeting will vote a pair of warrant articles, supported by the Planning Board, that would greatly reduce the chance of new smoke shops opening in town.
At last week’s board meeting, Senior Planner Elizabeth Bonventre explained the board and department will bring zoning bylaw changes that would redefine smoke shops and limit them to a particular type of zoning. She said there is no intention to ban the sale of tobacco and tobacco products in town and convenience stories and grocery stores will be able to sell them and existing smoke shops would be allowed to remain open.
What the zoning change would do is take smoke shops out of General Business (IG) districts and limit them to Continuous Traffic Business District (BT) zones. This would make new shops opening in town difficult because, as Bonventre explained, there are only three parcels in town with that zoning – Burlington House of Pizza, the Midas shop on Middlesex Turnpike and the Speedway location. Further, any applicant seeking a smoke shop in any of these locations would also need a special permit from the Planning Board.
The vote of Town Meeting would also change the definition of smoke shops to the following: An establishment whose principal use is dedicated to the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing, or marketing of tobacco, tobacco products, or tobacco paraphernalia, or electronic tobacco.
Planning Board member Barbara L’Heureux said the intent of the proposed zoning bylaw changes is to give the town’s legislative body a chance to weigh in on what has become a controversial subject. As reported on BNEWS, the discussion came up at a recent series of board meetings where the group discussed a proposal to allow Cambridge Street Smoke Shop to open at 226 Cambridge Street in the Town Center. The fact that the location is adjacent to Schoolhouse Ice Cream & Yogurt and near True North Coffee sparked debate among some members about the nature of the business and whether it was appropriate in locations near where children are likely to congregate.
“If I’m correct our goal is to find out the will of Town Meeting?” L’Heureux said. “We are not trying to impose our will upon the town but it seemed to be a contentious issue when it came before us so it seemed like a good idea to see if Town Meeting wants smoke shops in other places in town or only by special permit.”
In the end the board voted unanimously to favorably recommend Town Meeting approve the warrant articles.
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