Banning Dollar Stores & Establishing a Healthy Neighborhood Overlay District

Oklahoma City, OK

Population: 500,000-700,000 | Government type: City | Topic: Health Equity

Mayor David Holt speaks at the groundbreaking of a new grocery store on Oct 1, 2020, in northeast Oklahoma City, which has been a food desert for decades. (Photo: Oklahoma Watch)

The POLICY

Dollar Tree is one of the fastest growing retailers in the country, expanding into vulnerable communities including small, rural towns and predominantly Black urban neighborhoods. With over 30,000 stores nationwide, they currently outnumber Starbucks and Walmart combined. Their exponential growth has pushed out fresh food providers and  created food deserts. Food deserts are geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance. A 2018 ILSR report showed that dollar stores trigger the closure of grocery stores, eliminating jobs and further eroding the prospects of the vulnerable communities they target. The report also showed that a Dollar General’s arrival typically cuts a small town’s supermarket sales by about 30 percent. 

Compared to other Oklahomans, Northeast Oklahoma City (NE OKC) residents face an average life expectancy that is 18 years shorter, as well as the highest morbidity rate in every major disease category-- including obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. The community is also a food desert. In one particular zip code, 73111, the only grocery store (a Smart Saver - cost plus store) closed in August  2019.

Earlier in 2019, Oklahoma City (OKC) passed a moratorium on dollar stores, also known as “small box discount stores,” which have been shown to be harmful to neighborhoods and the local economy. The moratorium put a pause on the acceptance, processing, and issuance of rezoning permits, building permits, or certificates of occupancy that would allow construction of or use of property in that particular community. It applied to certain retail sales of convenience goods or consumer shopping goods, and included exceptions for small retailers who sell fresh food. It was originally a 180-day moratorium, but  was extended to 269 days in October 2019. 

Ultimately the moratorium created space for the end goal: to amend the OKC zoning code to establish a healthy neighborhood overlay district, which would “provide requirements for the inclusion of fresh food and provide requirements for the dispersal of locations” of discount stores. In January 2020, the council passed an ordinance to establish a health neighborhood overlay, creating a requirement for any new discount stores. For example, this requires stores to have a pharmacy, or to dedicate at least 500 square feet of retail space to selling fresh fruit, vegetables, or meat. 

Under this new healthy neighborhood overlay, NE OKC is expecting a 30,000 square foot grocery story to be completed in 2021.

Collaborative Governance

Communities within NE OKC had been leading conversations about the need for more grocery stores for over 30 years. The creation of the Healthy Neighborhood Overlay District is the direct result of a collaboration between elected officials and the community who clearly expressed their needs.

One of the common misconceptions around the moratorium was that it would deter businesses from coming to the neighborhood. Community education and engagement to educate constituents on the measure and its long-term impact and benefits— for example through informational materials and community forums—was key to passing the moratorium. One of the key messages organizers highlighted was the discrepancies between wards (i.e. some wards are more densely impacted by food deserts than others).

Emphasis on equity

Increasing the accessibility of fresh produce and other healthy food options was critical to creating equity and disrupting the built food environment that keeps fresh food inaccessible and unaffordable for communities of color. Food deserts are formed by a combination of conditions, including residential segregation from past zoning decisions, an exodus of more affluent residents from urban areas to suburbs, an influx of predatory businesses that flood communities with low-cost and low-quality food, and an expansion of supermarkets on the outskirts of cities that put small urban markets out of business. As a result of these dynamics, there are fewer supermarkets and healthy food options in predominantly Black neighborhoods than in white ones. Research has shown that public policy can have an impact on food access and help reduce the racial and socioeconomic disparities that contribute to unequal access to food.

The establishment of the Healthy Neighborhood Overlay District helped disrupt the historical patterns of racial segregation and “supermarket redlining” and initiated the re-zoning for properties that are partially or wholly located within the NE OKC community.

Analysis

• Preemption: Zoning is a power delegated to local governments under "police powers" that empowers local governments to make decisions on land use to promote general health, safety and welfare. A zoning overlay does not change underlying zoning, but adds additional requirements for particular types of entities and purposes. 

• Policy impact: Significant. The moratorium coupled with the overlay district kept predatory businesses out of the area, providing time to develop a zoning overlay proposal to ensure that future box stores must meet minimum fresh food requirements in the specific neighborhoods with the overlay.

OTHER POLICY EXAMPLES

• Following a similar moratorium, Tulsa City Councillor Vanessa Hall-Harper was successful last year in establishing a healthy neighborhoods overlay policy for three neighborhoods in her district. The policy reduces the minimum parking requirements for a grocery store by 50 percent and states discount stores must be at least one mile away from one another.

Last updated: January 19, 2021

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