Young wants stores on N. 29th Street and W. Susquehanna Avenue closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Corner stores and other shops on two more North Philadelphia corridors would have to close overnight under a bill set for a City Council committee hearing Nov. 17.

Bill 260697, from 5th District Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., would bar commercial establishments from being open to the public between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on:

• N. 29th Street, both sides, from W. Dauphin Street to W. Huntingdon Street; and
• W. Susquehanna Avenue, both sides, from N. Broad Street to N. 15th Street.

If you live, shop or run a store on those blocks, it would change what's open late at night (bill text).

The law it expands

Young already has a 5th District closing law. Bill 250988 passed 16-0, with one member absent, on Feb. 12 and was signed Feb. 24. According to the certified text, it applies to:

• W. Girard Avenue from W. College Avenue to 29th Street;
• W. Fairmount Avenue from Broad Street to 24th Street;
• Broad Street from Spring Garden Street to Poplar Street; and
• Ridge Avenue between Broad Street and W. Girard Avenue.

The law covers shops that sell goods mainly for use off the premises. It exempts restaurants with liquor licenses, drive-through-only food businesses, gas stations and pharmacies. The fine is $1,000 per offense for each day a violation continues. The same law requires a zoning special exception for new retail stores on those four corridors. Bill 260697 adds the two new corridors to the hours rule only; it doesn't change zoning.

Bill 260697 lists the new streets as items (e) and (f) of the section, after the existing four corridors.

Part of a citywide pattern

Philadelphia's code has similar sections for other districts, including the Sixth and Ninth, according to the city code. Council first did this on Kensington Avenue, with a law barring most businesses there from staying open past 11 p.m., with bars exempted, WHYY reported. As the idea spread to other districts, members described the goal as eliminating a "safe harbor" for overnight crime, WHYY reported.

What our records add

• Introduced Sept. 17, referred to the Committee on Rules, with no co-sponsors. It has waited 45 days.
• One of two Young bills on the Nov. 17 Rules agenda. The other, Bill 260764, would limit uses on the Academy of Natural Sciences block; we covered it here.
• Because it amends Title 9, the business regulations, rather than the zoning code, it doesn't need a Planning Commission review.

What's next

The Rules Committee meets Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. in Room 400 of City Hall. If the committee approves the bill, it could get a first reading Nov. 19 and a final vote at a later session. Under the original law's language, Council can add locations "from time to time," as this bill does.