New Paltz May Become Franchise-Free Village

Daily Freeman:

NEW PALTZ - Trustees are considering making the village a franchise-free zone in an effort to help independent business owners succeed.

Officials sought during a Village Board meeting Wednesday to establish a description for national chain stores while not affecting businesses that emphasize branded products.

“We need to level the playing field,” Mayor Jason West said.

“We need to give those who do want to open local businesses some kind of a leg up,” he said. “It seems a simple way to do that is within the 1.7 square miles of the village (is to know) you’re not going to have to compete with that franchise that is doing bulk buying.”

Under the proposed law, special use permits could be sought through the village Zoning Board of Appeals for businesses such as gas stations that have limited opportunities for inventory without working with a franchise.

“That’s an appropriate use for a ZBA,” West said. “You get the variance for those things that you can’t get from a local company.”

West considers it important to support independent businesses because of the local economic impact. He said statistics show national chain businesses are able to buy inventory at lower costs than independent businesses that have the same products but do not purchase as much supporting equipment locally.

“You can’t guarantee that they’re going to spend 45 percent of their revenue in the local community,” he said.

“How do you require them … to buy from local vendors when the purpose of having a local franchise is to be able to out compete local vendors because you are both buying on a national scale,” West said.