Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors adopted a resolution Tuesday meant to temporarily bar the approval of new 'dollar-style' stores in locations where those stores would need to request a zoning change.
City officials approved the moratorium in a voice vote with no audible dissenting votes.
The resolution was written to target stores in the vein of Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, though the measure's text does not mention any retailers by name. According to the resolution, the city will impose a nine-month moratorium on zoning requests for retail stores with a floor area of less than 12,000 square feet in which a majority of the inventory is priced below $10 per item.
The introductory text of the resolution describes the lack of access to fresh, healthy food as "a chronic and growing problem" in Little Rock. The proliferation of the discount stores exacerbates the problem, the measure states, tying a lack of fresh food to "significant chronic health issues," such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
Ward 3 City Director Kathy Webb, who sponsored the resolution, said she had found more than 27 cities that have passed ordinances and resolutions limiting dollar-type stores through a variety of methods.
She suggested these stores contribute to a broader problem of food deserts -- the term refers to areas where healthy food is unavailable or not affordable -- and health problems associated with them.
The resolution would give Little Rock time to study the issues and how to address them, she explained at the meeting.
"Nine months is not a tremendously long period of time," Webb said during the meeting.
She noted the resolution was not an ordinance akin to what other cities have passed "that severely restricts the ... proliferation of these stores," adding, "This is a pause so we can make [the] best decisions moving forward."
Webb is no stranger to the issues surrounding food insecurity. In addition to her position on the city board, she serves as executive director of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.
At one point during the meeting, City Manager Bruce Moore said staff of the Planning and Development Department would notify prospective applicants of the moratorium set by the resolution. Moore said he was aware of one applicant seeking to locate on Markham Street but said he was unsure if the proposed store would have to come before the Planning Commission and the city board.
According to City Attorney Tom Carpenter's comments at the meeting, a pending application for such a discount store would not go forward under the moratorium.
Moore and Carpenter confirmed at the meeting that one pending store that would be affected by the resolution has been proposed for West 11th Street and Fair Park Boulevard. Carpenter indicated the proposed store has not been approved by the Planning Commission.
In response to a question from City Director B.J. Wyrick of Ward 7 regarding whether the resolution would bar convenience stores that sell gasoline, Carpenter pointed to the measure's parameters on square footage and inventory pricing.
Several individuals spoke in support of the resolution before the vote at Tuesday's meeting, which was held virtually because of the surge in covid-19 cases. Only a handful of individuals attended the meeting in person.
Additional language in the resolution urges the mayor and city manager to take certain actions while the moratorium is in effect. They include reviewing the locations of any food deserts in the city, determining if any federal grants could aid the construction of full-service grocery stores within those food deserts and, if appropriate, pursuing the grants.
The resolution also encourages the mayor and city manager to hold public hearings in each of the city's seven wards, as well as in the areas determined to be food deserts, to get feedback on the impact of the types of stores targeted by the resolution.
Although a version of the resolution available online Tuesday evening said the mayor and city manager were "directed" to take these actions, toward the outset of the meeting Webb indicated that the word had been removed in favor of "strongly encourage."