Valley News Correspondent
Published: 1/26/2020 10:16:39 PM
Modified: 1/26/2020 10:16:24 PM
CLAREMONT — The proprietor of The Magic Mushroom, a vaping and tobacco store on Washington Street, said her request before the Zoning Board of Adjustment to sell sex toys to adults will not mean any change in the store exterior, and the general public would not be aware of the paraphernalia.
“It won’t even be noticed,” Leanna LeBarron said last week. “There will be nothing more on the outside of the store at all.”
LeBarron’s request for a variance was first presented to the zoning board on Jan. 6 and the hearing was continued to Feb. 3. The Magic Mushroom is in the City Center CB-2 district, which does not allow the sale of “sexually-oriented” merchandise. Further, regardless of the district, sexually oriented items cannot be sold within 200 feet of a single-family or multifamily residence. There is a multi-family residence, though it is not occupied, across the street from the Magic Mushroom and also nearby on the same side of the street is an apartment above a real estate office.
The products LeBarron wants to sell are permitted in the B-2 zone, City Planner Scott Osgood said. The Magic Mushroom borders that zone, he added.
According to the minutes of the Jan. 6 meeting, LeBarron, who lives in Reading, Vt., said she owns a similar store in Springfield, Vt., and her customers are asking if she could sell the same products in Claremont.
“Ms. LeBarron said she has been in business for 13 years, and that the business has gotten progressively bigger in that time,” the minutes state.
The minutes describe the area in the store for the merchandise as being a windowless 5-by-7 feet section with the products locked in cabinets. Customers have to be 21 to enter the store and each customer will be carded, LeBarron told the ZBA.
“Ms. LeBarron contested the use of the term ‘sexual,’ ” the minutes state. “She said she refers to the merchandise as ‘adult toys,’ and that what people do with the merchandise is a personal choice.”
LeBarron, who owns the Family Fun Zone Bounce House on Pleasant Street, said no abutters attended the Jan. 6 meeting to oppose her application.
The minutes also make reference to a similar store that operated on Washington Street in the 1990s. It had different locations but at one time was in a building — since demolished — that is the present site of AutoZone and is across the street from The Magic Mushroom.
Newly elected City Councilor James Contois opposes the store’s request for a special use permit.
In a letter to the editor earlier this month in the Valley News, Contois said the variance request does not conform to the master plan which has a goal “to promote the health, safety, and welfare of Claremont’s residents and visitors. The plan also says it gives Claremont a sense of identity, and it explains the necessity of a zoning board to protect us.”
But Contois, the director of the Claremont Senior Center, also said several people he spoke to view the request as “normal business” and told him these types of products are sold everywhere.
In a phone interview Thursday, Contois said he has heard from four people in response to his letter and only one firmly agreed with his position.
“I just don’t think we need this sort of business in Claremont,” Contois said, adding that he has reached out to area churches hoping to gain their support in opposition to the variance.
The Feb. 3 hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment