Man appeals zoning permit rejection

The proposed adult-business location is within 500 feet of residential homes.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's board of zoning appeals will hear a request Tuesday from a Girard man to open an adult novelty and DVD rental and sales store in a small strip plaza on Mahoning Avenue.
The city planning department rejected granting a zoning permit to Matthew Bellin of Girard for what he described on his permit request as an "Ambiance style" store that sells adult novelties and adult DVDs.
Ambiance is a retail store with a location on U.S. Route 224 in Boardman that sells lingerie, "adult novelties," instructional sex and soft-core pornographic DVDs, and other sexual items.
The planning department rejected Bellin's zoning permit because city law prohibits an adult entertainment or a business primarily selling adult movies, photographs and/or magazines to be located within 500 feet of a residential house, church or school, said William D'Avignon, director of the city's Community Development Agency, which includes the planning department under its umbrella.
Houses nearby
Residential houses are located behind Bellin's proposed business location on Mahoning Avenue just east of Meridian Road. The other two stores in the strip plaza are Franco's Tattoos and Pizza Joe's. Bellin wants to open his business in a store last used by Hometown Video. The location is across the street from the Mahoning Plaza.
"Being right in front of private dwellings prohibits the business from getting a permit, but it doesn't preclude him from seeking to overturn the decision," D'Avignon said.
Bellin declined to comment except to say he would discuss the issue at Tuesday's board meeting, which begins at 1:30 p.m. in council chambers on city hall's sixth floor.
In his appeal letter, Bellin wrote that the city's zoning code on adult businesses "is too broad in definition and should be more narrowly tailored to affect those uses which produce the unwanted secondary effects like increased crime and decreased property values."
In the letter, Bellin also wrote that his proposed store doesn't fall into the city ordinance's category of an adult business.
If Bellin agreed to not rent or sell adult DVDs, his business would probably not be considered an adult business and could obtain a zoning permit, D'Avignon said.
"If novelties are the primary items for sale, then he'd probably be fine," he said.
The city has two stores on Market Street and one on Glenwood Avenue that sell hard-core adult videos.
skolnick@vindy.com