Tempe city leaders will discuss a proposallater today that’s designed to keep certain stores from getting too close to each other.
The plan would require businesses such as pawn shops and auto title loans stores in the future to be separated by at least one quarter of a mile. It also calls for “non-traditional businesses” to be at least 500 feet away from residential districts, schools and daycare facilities.
Tempe resident Alex Otto said no one’s trying to run pawn shops, auto title loan stores and bail bonds businesses out of town, but he would look like to see more distance between them.
Recently, when a pawn shop and firearms retailer prepared to set up shop near his home, Otto was surprised to learn Tempe had no zoning rules to stop them from clustering together. Neighbors, worried about decreasing property values, pushed the city to propose changes.
“It’s working people. I’m an electrician, it’s plumbers, teachers,” he said, “I’m not a developer trying to run everybody of out their neighborhood. That’s not the motivation here. We’re your neighbors just trying to protect the little we have.”
