As a homeowner in the neighborhood who will be directly impacted by the decision of the Head Shed to open a store at the corner of Glendale Avenue and the Anthony Wayne Trail, I was surprised by your April 3 editorial titled “Just keep walking.”

First, I would like to state that I do not appreciate being labeled “self-righteous.” That implies that I oppose this business expanding in this location on moral grounds. However, my argument against this store in this location is that it is an inappropriate business to be located only 107 feet from an elementary school.

They do sell, to quote your editorial, ‘‘hookahs, oils, tapestries, and other such things.” They also sell clothing, posters, incense, black lights, candles, and disc golf supplies. But, by padding their inventory with all these types of items, they reduce the percentage of their stock that is composed of “tobacco” accessories, and sexually explicit items. Stock percentage manipulation is how they skirt the municipal zoning code, and sidestep being labeled a “tobacco shop” or “sexually oriented business.”

The Head Shed, as you say, is defined by their website as a “counter-culture store.” The Oxford, Merriam-Webster, New Urban, and Wikipedia dictionaries all define a ‘‘Head” shop as a store which retails drug paraphernalia.

The building the Head Shed is planning on expanding into is in a site zoned CN, neighborhood commercial. That zone is defined in the City of Toledo Municipal Code as “intended to accommodate pedestrian-oriented, small-scale retail and service businesses that serve nearby residential areas” (code 1102.0600). The Head Shed does not comply with this definition.

I am not against businesses expanding. I don’t care whether or not the Head Shed expands. But no other Head Shed is located in the middle of a neighborhood. And, I certainly do not accept that a location across the street from an elementary school is the right place.

SUZANNE OGDAHL

Circular Road

First Published April 16, 2017, 4:00 a.m.