The Bowl and Board space

[dangone.livejournal.com]

So I was just thinking, is there anything that we can do as a community to prevent the landlords from charging an exorbitant amount of rent for that space?

I had posted yesterday that the space is on loopnet.com for 20k and people started tweeting about it, everyone in shock.  Basically it got me thinking, do residents have a say in what gets placed in the space?

Only a restaurant or bar or chain will be able to afford that rent.

It would really suck if it was a Qdoba. 

Dan

Comments

Re: Communities do/can control what businesses are welcome

[ron_newman]

But zoning applies only to new development. It can't control when one retail business replaces another in the same space.

Licensing has more flexibility, but generally applies only to bars and restaurants.

Re: Communities do/can control what businesses are welcome

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

Are you sure about that? Zoning for historic appropriateness, traffic density and business "fit" seem to control all business activity in places like Salem. A town or city can make any rules it wants, assuming they can make a legal and community supported (and in some cases not - like the recent parking changes)case for it. This can pertain to all sorts of things down to signage.

Re: Communities do/can control what businesses are welcome

[ron_newman]

Generally zoning comes into play only if construction is occurring (subdividing a space, adding new doors, etc) or if there is a substantial difference between the type of the old business and that of the new (for instance, changing a bank or retail store into a restaurant). Existing uses are 'grandfathered' and so are replacements for them.