SELMA – Selma officials are taking a deeper look at the regulations and permitting requirements for thrift stores in the city.
The Selma City Council on Aug. 18 heard an informational item from newly-hired Community Development Director Tawanda Mtunga related to thrift store regulations and permitting requirements. The Selma municipal code requires that thrift and resale stores obtain a conditional use permit to operate; however, of the six thrift stores identified in the city, only three have CUPs.
City Manager Jason Rogers said that because many department heads weren’t working with the city when these stores opened, “all we can assume was that there was maybe some process breakdown at the time as to why that didn’t reach the Planning Commission for approval of the CUP.”
“But also, that’s what we’re doing here now is reviewing those, and that’s what Tawanda’s doing is reviewing that process and making sure that that process is equally applied to everything, especially moving forward related to these,” Rogers said.
Council members and staff discussed ways they would be able to rectify the missing permits and improve the business review process. Although the council took no formal action, it did reach a consensus to have staff prepare a text amendment to the city zoning ordinance that would potentially restrict how many thrift stores can operate in the city.
Residents and the council said limiting the number of thrift stores in one area or in the entire city would add on to efforts to beautify Selma and attract people to the downtown business district. The existing stores are concentrated along High Street and Second Street in Selma’s downtown.
“We want to bring people downtown, and thrift and resale shops don’t necessarily discourage people from being downtown, but too many of them is not a goal that the city has had or any city council,” Mayor Scott Robertson said.
Robertson said that in his opinion, if you look at Van Ness Avenue in Fresno and the thrift stores concentrated there, “it just contributes to the blight of an area.”
“I don’t think you know having (six) thrift and resale shops is something that is particularly planned in a town of 25,000, and especially in a central business district like we have,” Robertson said.
How so many?
There are three stores with CUPs — two that opened in 2025 and one that has been around for over 10 years.
Of the three stores that the city does not have a record of CUPs for, the city staff report said these businesses — High Street Boutique, Third Times a Charm and Bison Exchange — were first issued business licenses in 2021, 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Council members and the public questioned how thrift stores could be allowed to operate and obtain a business license without first having the proper permits. The council did recall that it reviewed at least one fee waiver for a thrift store’s CUP in 2025.
Resident Rose Robertson said that she remembers when the council put a restriction on the number of thrift stores in the city. She said that now there are more, however, and that “they got in here somehow — somebody let them in.”
“It wasn’t council. People are trying to refer like this was council; it wasn’t council, it was somebody in the city,” Robertson said. “They were comfortable enough to go open a secondhand store. Somebody wrote up something for them. You guys need to go back, administration needs to go back and see who allowed that, because whoever did that, they allowed a lot more to do so, and almost privately.”
Meeting minutes show that a CUP for My Vintage & Thrift was approved by the Selma Planning Commission in a 6-0 vote, with one member absent, at the June 23, 2025 meeting. That specific CUP did not require council approval.
The council did, however, hear an item at the March 18, 2025, meeting related to the store Lovely Little Things. The owner and many supporters in the community went to the council to ask for a waiver of the $4,500 permit fee to allow them to open their store, which sells used children’s clothing and is geared toward supporting people and young families in need.
Ordinance history
According to what city staff were able to find, Selma’s thrift store regulations date back to zoning provisions adopted in 1976. At that time, only thrift stores operated by nonprofits and approved through CUPs were allowed.
In 2020, with three existing thrift stores and one that wanted to open, inconsistencies in the ordinance’s enforcement were brought to staff and council’s attention, the staff report said. This prompted the council to approve an urgency ordinance that temporarily eliminated the nonprofit and CUP requirements that would be in effect for one year.
The staff report said the urgency ordinance also established other regulations related to when and how donations could be accepted and the number of allowed thrift stores. At that time, used-goods businesses could not be located within 300 feet of each other and commercial zones could not have more than two thrift stores unless a CUP was approved.
A permanent ordinance was never put into place after 2021 to keep these regulations. Then, in August 2024, the city adopted an updated ordinance as part of its overhaul of the entire zoning code.
With this ordinance, which is what is still in place, thrift stores require CUPs when in commercial zoning districts. There are no restrictions related to nonprofit status and no limits on distance between stores or total number of stores.
Potential regulations
For the businesses that haven’t obtained a CUP, Mayor pro tem Sarah Guerra asked how the city could go about ensuring that they do get properly permitted. She said there are some secondhand shops and boutiques that seem to sell more used clothes than they initially claimed they would.
“If they didn’t apply or put on their application true statements, does the city have the right to go in and say we could shut you down for not putting this information accurately?” Guerra asked.
City Attorney Neal Costanzo explained that the business licensing process isn’t really a way to regulate business but is more like a tax the city imposes on businesses operating in the city. Because of that, the city would need to resolve the issue through the code enforcement process.
Bonique Emerson, a planner with Precision Civil Engineering who was most recently serving as the interim community development director, said city staff have internally discussed establishing a zone clearance process for new businesses.
Before someone gets their business license, they would have to ensure that their business is in compliance with the zoning code, whether that’s related to the zoning district the business is located in or the need for a special permit.
If the council wants to revert back to restricting how many thrift stores operate within Selma, city staff said they would need to make a text amendment to the existing ordinance that outlines what those restrictions are.
The council did not discuss specific restrictions but did indicate to city staff that it wants to move forward with some form of limitation related to the total number of thrift stores in a zoning district or the distance between thrift stores.
