HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9145INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS.
To the Mayor and Members of the City Councii
SUB.IECT: Pawn Shop Zoning
No. 9145
November 3, 2009
Page 1 of 2
The purpose of this report is to provide the City Council with requested information concerning
the zoning and regulation of pawn shops.
In 2006, the City Council adopted an ordinance removing pawn shops and other uses from "E"
Neighborhood Commercial and "MU-1" Low Intensity Mixed-Use (Ord. 17093). The other uses
included golf driving range, outdoor amusement, massage parlor, bed and breakfast home, RV
park, and tattoo parlor. The purpose was to remove uses that could create negative impacts on
adjacent residential uses, and to minimize the creation of "PD" Planned Development districts to
exclude these uses in response to neighborhood concerns.
According to the database maintained by the Police Department, the City of Fort Worth licenses
34 pawn shops within the city limits (5 licensed shops are just outside the city limits). A map is
attached. The businesses obtain annual licenses through Police. They are also required to
submit a form for each pawned item to Police and hold the item for 14 days before sale.
Of the 34 pawn shops, 15 are in "E" zoning and therefore considered legal nonconforming. As a
legal-nonconforming property, the pawn shop use may be continued indefinitely, but may not be
expanded. If the pawn shop either ceases operation for a period of 24 months or the space is
used for another business permitted in the "E" zoning, the pawn shop use is no longer legal
nonconforming and cannot be resumed. Staff is not aware of any legal nonconforming pawn
shops that have had to cease operations due to the structure being destroyed.
State law regulates pawn shops through Chapter 371 of the Finance Code, known as the Texas
Pawn Shop Act. Through this act, a pawnbroker may only have a license issued for a new facility
if it is more than two miles from an existing pawn shop, or for the relocation of a licensed pawn
shop if it is more than one mile from another pawn shop and within one mile of the shop's existing
location.
Staff does not recommend permitting pawn shops by right in "E" zoning. If the City Council
wishes to address legal nonconforming pawn shops, either the property owner or the City Council
may initiate rezoning of the property to allow pawn shops as a conforming use.
If you have any questions, please contact Dana Burghdoff, Planning and Development Deputy
Director, at 817-392-8018.
. �'
arDale A. Fisseler, P.E.
City Manager
Attachment: Map
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH_ TFxoS
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