An Arden Hills store might have to move because it opened where the city doesn’t allow thrift shops

Brett Foss had been searching for a location to reopen Odds and Ends Again, a secondhand store, when he found a spot next to Frattallone’s Hardware in Arden Plaza.

He signed a lease and the store, which sells furniture and home decor, opened in January.

Then, he got a letter from Arden Hills: The store wasn’t allowed to be there. The space Foss leased at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and County Road E was in an area where the city prohibits thrift shops.

“We never wanted to create an issue,” Foss told the City Council on Monday, asking members to work with him to keep his business open.

It’s rare for cities to have zoning rules that treat thrift stores differently from other retail, said Evan Roberts, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota who is leading the Minnesota Zoning Atlas project. He called Arden Hills' thrift shop zoning “distinctively” restrictive among metro cities.

“Cities are generally trying to move towards a more flexible approach to regulating specific uses,” Roberts said.

While some City Council members expressed interest in changing the city’s zoning to permit Foss' store, Mayor David Grant said Foss had previously been given information on city zoning and should have known better.

“It’s a situation that was created by the owner of Odds and Ends Again,” Grant said.

Secondhand store regulations came into fashion in decades past to get people selling used wares off the street and into stores, Roberts said. For example, Minneapolis designated where secondhand stores could go in the 1960s, but doesn’t anymore.

While metro cities more often dictate where pawn shops can go, citing theft and cash transaction concerns, few specifically mention thrift or secondhand-type stores in code, Roberts said. Others that do include Mounds View and Robbinsdale, but both allow those stores in their broader neighborhood retail districts.

Arden Hills banned thrift stores in this part of the city a decade ago after Goodwill opened on the northwest corner of the same intersection where Odds and Ends Again is now located.

The ban followed a legal battle with Goodwill, which filed a lawsuit when the city initially denied its application, largely due to traffic concerns. The city and Goodwill settled in 2015 and the store opened in 2016.

“In that zoning district, B2, we felt that thrift stores had ample representation with Goodwill,” Grant said in an interview. “We wanted to maintain the storefronts for some more traditional businesses” such as dentists, doctors, accountants or other retail.

Thrift stores are allowed with a conditional use permit in some areas north of the intersection where Goodwill and Odds and Ends Again are located. (The city is undertaking a comprehensive review of its code, but any changes through that process are likely to take time.)

Odds and Ends Again is the resale arm of Foss' businesses that cater to seniors, including helping them move, downsize, plan for the future and stay in their homes. The shop had previously operated in Shoreview, but after moving out of that location, Foss said he had hoped to buy a building to house the resale store and offices.

He previously contacted Arden Hills about the zoning for a building he was eyeing for purchase in a different part of the city and learned it was not zoned for retail, he said.

He said he also checked about the Arden Plaza location, but didn’t realize his business was not considered regular retail, the category allowed there.

Under Arden Hills' zoning code, “thrift store” includes consignment and other operations.

City Manager Jessica Jagoe confirmed that Foss had contacted the city and received information about city zoning. She said business owners generally call to check if zoning permits their business. Foss also had not applied for a city business permit as of Monday.

In an interview, Foss said he should have gotten around to the business permit earlier but was planning to do it when he got permits for signage.

Foss said his landlord has been supportive. Since the zoning issue came to light, he said he’s been flooded with calls from customers and families of seniors he’s worked with who want to support him. On Monday, he said a petition started by a supporter had received about 600 signatures.

“We’ve had people come in asking us if it’s OK if they go door to door on our behalf,” he said.

At Monday’s meeting, Council Member Kurt Weber, the former planning commission chair who won election to the council in November, requested the city explore allowing thrift stores in the area where Odds and Ends Again and Goodwill are located.

“In my view, the council restricted thrift stores to [Zone] B4 without a clear policy rationale beyond personal preference,” he said. He noted the planning commission had recommended thrift stores be allowed there and in other areas they are now banned.

Council Member Tena Monson expressed support for Weber’s proposal but said she felt Foss put himself in a difficult position and characterized some of his interactions with city staff as rude.

To ask staff whether a thrift store was a permitted use was not a high hurdle, Monson said. But, “I also believe it is really clear that this is a use that the public wants and the public likes,” she said.

Grant emphasized that Foss had received information on zoning from the city previously.

“I believe that we establish zoning to guide the development of the city and it’s an unfortunate scenario where someone doesn’t follow your zoning and then tries to change things after the fact,” he said in an interview.

The council agreed to discuss potential next steps at an April work session.