The task force also identified seven neighborhoods as potential sites for a retail outlet: the central business district, Witherspoon Street north, two areas on Route 206, Alexander Road, Nassau Street east, including Jugtown (the Nassau-Harrison area), and the Princeton Shopping Center.
But, as Niedergang says, “we have not heard from the community yet. There may be reasons why one or more of these areas is not appropriate.”
In addition, while an ordinance might allow such an operation in any of those seven neighborhoods, the task force is not inclined to recommend that seven licenses be issued. The current thinking is that three licenses would be a good starting number. “If we have three outlets and then if we see more demand, we could increase the number later,” says Niedergang.
Of those three licenses two might be regular licenses and one a micro-license. The rules for the micro-license require that the establishment be smaller than 2,500 square feet and that at least 51 percent of the owners live in the town in which it is located or in an immediately adjacent town. The micro-license, being a smaller operation, might be more within the reach of individual entrepreneurs, possibly minority entrepreneurs, rather than a large corporate enterprise. And part of task force’s mission is to “keep social and racial justice in the forefront.”