Schenectady

Corner stores in the city would have to be recertified every year and those located in residential neighborhoods would be open only between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. under an ordinance City Council members passed Monday as part of an ongoing effort to root out the bad businesses.

The measure, which updates existing local laws, passed with five votes Monday.

It also better defines a convenience store as a business with a total floor space of less than 10,000 square feet, and which sells groceries, snacks, candy, toiletries, soft drinks and newspapers. The stores also are known as bodegas.

The ordinance also places a clearer definition of secondhand cellphone stores as retail outlets, as opposed to bodegas.

The goal of the new law is to tighten restrictions on some of the corner stores, which are most prevalent in the Hamilton Hill, Central State Street, Bellevue and Mont Pleasant areas, that some city officials complain are a nuisance and are involved in illicit activity.

Penalties for using a bogus certificate of use would be a fine between $500 and $1,000, possible prison time and a ban from applying for another certificate for a year.

In the future, the law could be expanded to prohibit the sale of tobacco products near schools and limit advertisements on the outside of a business.

In January, the city passed a moratorium on the opening of new corner stores that is set to expire in May.

Meantime, Council members on April 27 are scheduled to consider a resolution that calls for them to end a lease agreement with the Guyanese American Association of Schenectady and enter into a new one with the Upstate New York Cricket Association to oversee Grout Park.

The two groups had clashed over cricket fields and playing time at the park off Hamburg Avenue.

The issue was pulled from the agenda Monday.

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson