It is now a great deal more difficult to open a new small-box discount store in Henry County – virtually impossible in the unincorporated county.

  A new ordinance approved by the Henry County Board of Commissioners at its May 5 regular meeting established a five-mile distance requirement for such stores, commonly known as dollar stores. That means a new store cannot be built within five miles of an existing one, and when you plot the existing locations on a county map, there are almost no locations left outside the four cities.

  This proposed ordinance was first brought up in February, and further discussions took place in April. The document presented by staff this time also included restrictions for vape shops, beauty supply stores (including hair salons and nail salons), tattoo shops, and facilities providing body piercing. But those were removed and the ordinance which was passed applied solely to small-box discount stores.

  So what exactly is that? It was defined in the draft ordinance as a store that has 12,000 or fewer square feet of space and “primarily offers for sale a combination and variety of convenience shopping goods and consumer shopping goods; and consistently offers and advertises a majority of the items in their inventory for sale at a price less than ten dollars per item.”

  The draft ordinance called for a two-mile distance requirement for such stores, but Bruce Holmes started the board discussion by suggesting that it be bumped up to five miles. He ultimately made the motion to approve the ordinance with that requirement, and he changed the definition to include stores up to 15,000 square feet.

    Holmes said he was not nearly as concerned with the other stores, and Dee Clemmons added that restrictions on hair salons and nail salons should be reconsidered because of the kinds of services they provide as well as the training and licensing that is required to provide them.

  Vivian Thomas echoed their sentiments, saying that the five-mile requirement would be a help to the existing stores.

  “We want them to be successful,” she said. “If they are too close to each other, they will oversaturate the area and our population will not support it.”

  Stacey Jordan-Rudeseal, the county’s chief planner, said that when researching comparable guidelines his staff found one jurisdiction with a two-mile requirement and another with a 10,000-foot requirement. He added that Stockbridge has a one-mile restriction in place.

  The other cases were mostly targeted to specific areas, while the Henry County proposal would be countywide, Rudeseal added. Its passage would require nearly every other potential store to apply for rezoning, which would give the commissioners a chance to regulate them on a case-by-case basis.

  Rudeseal never mentioned a number for existing dollar stores in the county, but he pointed out that there are 45 nail salons and 109 hair salons within a five-mile radius of the county administration building.

  When it was asked whether there would be any difference between stand-alone buildings and stores located in shopping centers, Gary Barham expressed concern about telling a developer what he or she could or could not allow in a development.

  No one from the public signed up to comment for or against the proposal at the meeting, which was convened via video conference. The ordinance was approved by unanimous vote.