Politics & Government

Council Extends Moratorium on Secondhand Dealership Stores To One Year

The extended time frame is to allow city staff more time to determine zoning codes for pawn shop businesses.

The Glendora City Council unanimously voted to extend a moratorium on applications for secondhand dealership businesses from 45 days to up to one year during Tuesday’s meeting.

In April, the council put a temporary hold on all future Cash for Gold business permits, allowing time to draft an ordinance regarding pawn shop-type businesses in the city.

The moratorium was in response to a Cash for Gold business that had approached the city expressing interest in opening a location at the Glendora Marketplace.

Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

With no current zoning codes within the city that deals with secondhand dealerships, Planning director Jeff Kugel recommended to the council that the temporary hold be placed for staff to research and develop codes for these types of businesses.

 “What we recommended from staff is to essentially put a time out on this so it will give the planning department a chance to contemplate how such a use might be located, what zoning districts it would be appropriate to locate in, or whether or not it should be permitted within the city at all,” Kugel said in April.

Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kugel said there are currently no pawn shops in the city.

However, there was some concern over the broad nature of the moratorium, with some suggesting it prevented legitimate secondhand stores from opening in the city.

“I think it’s much too broadly focused and going to exclude a variety of potential businesses to the city,” said Glendora resident Michele Rivard. Rivard said she hopes to open a secondhand and refurbishing furniture store in downtown Glendora, but red tape in the city’s current moratorium is delaying her request. “This is not in the same line of a gold dealership or pawn shop by any means,“ she said.

While there are several thrift stores and consignment shops in the city, City Manager Chris Jeffers said many of them exist because of their nonprofit status. Consignment store My Best Friend’s Closet had been approved because its opening date predated the beginning of the moratorium, said Jeffers.

“We’re not trying to make this restrictive," said Jeffers. "What we’re trying to do is develop some reasonable regulations in the time, place and manner for when and how we want these businesses to happen,” said Jeffers.

Although the moratorium extension had been approved for up to one year, the council was advised that the extension may be terminated earlier if city staff can prepare its report before the one year time frame.

Kugel said the earliest the planning department can bring this issue back to the council is within four months.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here