A store that will sell cigarettes, tobacco products and e-cigarettes won unanimous approval from the Hellertown Planning Commission Wednesday night after the owner agreed to comply with certain conditions stipulated by planners.
This property at 837 Main St., Hellertown, will soon house a discount tobacco store.
Dushyant Patel of Stroudsburg said he and a cousin currently own three other smoke shops which they operate responsibly. He said their employees are trained to card purchasers, and they have never been cited for selling tobacco products to underage purchasers.
The store will be located at 837 Main St., at the corner of Main and Depot streets, at the front of a building that most recently housed a produce store.
Borough engineer Bryan Smith noted that since the building is located in the borough’s town center zoning district a retail business is a permitted use there.
The existing parking lot provides sufficient parking for the business, but planners stipulated that a “No Left Turn” sign be installed at the exit to help prevent patrons from turning the wrong way onto Depot Street, which is one way between Main Street and Easton Road.
“When the other place was there, people were coming out of there and coming onto Main Street, coming the wrong way,” Mayor Richard Fluck told planners.
Patel also agreed to install landscaping along the sidewalk, a street tree, a garbage receptacle/ashtray and “No Loitering” signs, and to limit the placement of exterior signage and signs inside the store’s windows.
Borough zoning officer Kris Russo said the outside of the business shouldn’t be littered with signs.
Patel also agreed not to install any benches or other types of furniture outside the shop, which planners theorized could encourage loitering; something neighbors said they were concerned about.
“(Customers) are going to purchase and leave,” he said. “It’s not going to be like a lounge.”
Patel said the business’s hours will likely be Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Planning commission members Maria Diaz-Joves and Francene Drake were absent.
The wholesale produce business owned by building owners Irene and John Papageorgiou will continue to operate out of the back, upper level portion of the building, which formerly housed a thrift shop.
