City Commission delays discussion of dollar stores

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

The agenda for today’s Gainesville City Commission contained an item that proposed asking staff to explore setting a minimum distance between dollar stores. That item was removed from the agenda with the explanation that the item was not complete.

The agenda item stated, “Efforts to expand healthy food options within communities have led to cities around the country exploring regulatory options to reduce the proliferation of “dollar stores” which tend to lack fresh food choices and can negatively impact rural and low-income communities that may struggle to support full service grocery stores. Regulations such as minimum distance separation standards between dollar store retailers are an example of relatively simple regulations that may help mitigate the negative impacts from an overconcentration of stores in low-income communities.”

Stay tuned, as this will almost certainly come back at a future meeting.