Want to open a gun store, pot shop, or other ‘sensitive’ business in Swarthmore? It just got a lot harder.

It just became a lot more difficult to open “sensitive and regulated use” businesses, including vape shops, dispensaries, and more, in Swarthmore.

The Delaware County borough last month approved an ordinance regulating where certain types of businesses can operate. Those businesses include drug paraphernalia stores, firing ranges, gun shops, marijuana dispensaries, tobacco shops, smoke shops, vape shops, hookah bars, cabarets, and some massage parlors. (Massage businesses operated by medical practitioners, physical therapists, or state-licensed massage therapists are exempt from the new rule.)

Any regulated business looking to open in Swarthmore will have to find a location that’s 400 feet from any school, childcare center, community center, library, park, playground, or house of worship. The businesses will also have to be 1,000 feet from one another.

Letting “sensitive and regulated use” businesses expand in Swarthmore would result in “undesirable impacts on the community” including the potential sale of sensitive goods to minors and “negative aesthetic impacts,” according to the ordinance.

Businesses will still be able to request a special exemption from the zoning hearing board should they want to open in a non-permissible location.

While some council members would rather ban the businesses altogether, council president Jill Gaieski said at a Feb. 9 meeting that it wouldn’t be legal to outright bar them from operating.

“The best we can do is sort of put restrictions around where they can go within town,” Gaieski said.

Council member David Boonin said the measure is “overly restrictive,” especially when it comes to medical marijuana storefronts, which Boonin described as a “medical service” for people.

As the Pennsylvania Legislature continues to consider the possible legalization of marijuana, Boonin said passing the ordinance would be “moving in the wrong direction.”

Boonin and council member Jared Therrien voted against the ordinance.

Council member Janna Garland said that she’s “not against cannabis dispensaries,” but is “against them in the town of limited commercial space where we’re trying to increase vibrancy, liveliness, and foot traffic.”

The economic vitality of Swarthmore’s downtown is of concern to some.

Speaking at the Feb. 9 meeting, Pastry Pants Bakery owner Robert Smythe said his bakery struggles to stay afloat on the business of Swarthmore residents alone, who typically shop downtown on the weekends. Smythe urged the borough to take action to make Swarthmore more of a destination for visitors.

Neighboring Lower Merion Township passed a resolution regulating tobacco, vape, and hookah stores last fall. Tobacco and vape shops in Lower Merion must be located 1,000 feet from any public or private school and 1,000 feet from one another.

Pittsburgh and York, Pa. have considered similar regulations.

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