By Sarah Cormier
C & G Staff Writer

MOUNT CLEMENS — The Mount Clemens Zoning Board of Appeals voted to allow a Mount Clemens man to keep his store open despite the city’s Community Development Department’s recommendation that it be shut down.

“I’m glad justice be done,” said Alonzo Womble, 34, after the ZBA decided in his favor.

Womble is the owner of the Do 4 Self Store at 111 Kibbee in Mount Clemens, which is located in the same building as a barbershop. An apartment is also above the two stores. The barbershop and Do 4 Self Store, which sells candy, chips and pop, share a wall, but have separate entrances. Womble said he set up his shop there after securing what he thought were the proper permits for a business, although the city disagrees.

City officials in Mount Clemens say that Womble’s business is illegal because it is placed in an area that is zoned for residential, not commercial use. The barbershop is located next to the store, but it is allowed there because it has been ruled as a “valid non-conforming use.” It has been at that location since the 1960s.

The city sent a letter on Nov. 9, 2009, alerting Womble that his store didn’t follow zoning laws and that he had 30 days to fix the error. When he didn’t respond, another one was sent out on Dec. 29, giving him 30 more days. A third letter sent asking Womble to respond by the end of January finally got his attention.

After raising the $400 necessary to appear before the ZBA via donations from the local community, Womble had his hearing on March 2.

There, he showed the board that he had collected signatures from locals who supported his cause and made his case about why his business should be allowed at the location.

“That street has always been designed for business,” he said. “It’s not like I went into business in an apartment selling candy.”

He also stated that the city had known he was there for a while, even sending over an ordinance officer to tell him that he needed to change the signage in front of his business to be permanent.

“Why after two years, and people know I’ve been there … (are) people saying I need to adjust this here and here.”

Linda Boykin, the owner of the building, who lives in the apartment above the two stores, said Womble’s business is mostly to sell snacks to those customers utilizing the salon, although local children come in there, too.

“It helped to service the customers of the barbershop,” she explained.

Some showed up at the meeting to voice their approval of Womble’s shop, stating that Womble serves as a role model for black children in the area. Thomas Barnes, from Harrison Township, said that Womble’s business is “absolutely necessary” to the local community.    

“I don’t see what the problem is, and the zoning community should see that,” he said. “If you close the store down, it will have a long-lasting effect on the community.”

Dan Reeves, vice president for the Associated Food & Petroleum Dealers, was the one negative speaker on Womble’s business. He said that it isn’t fair that the other retailers in the area opened their business through the proper channels but Womble didn’t.

“They should be commended for their efforts, not victimized,” he said.

However, the board decided that as long as Womble kept similar hours to the barbershop, his business would be considered ancillary.

“It stretches the point, but it appears the point has been stretched in the past,” said ZBA member Susie Wells, who referred to a ruling from the Mount Clemens city manager in 1981 that allowed a cosmetology service shop to be at the location.

Because a shop had been allowed at the location before, the ZBA decided that as long as Womble finished getting proper permits from the city, then he could stay.

“I would like to see it continue in that way,” said Wells of Womble’s shop.

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Cormier at scormier@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1095.