YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Leaders in the City of Youngstown met on Thursday to discuss key takeaways on a study of cities with moratoriums on dollar stores in Ohio and beyond.

The Youngstown Zoning Committee studied multiple cities with dollar store moratoriums in Ohio like Akron, Broadview, Maumee and Brunswick, as well as multiple cities outside of Ohio like Birmingham, Alabama, New Orleans, Louisiana and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

This study revealed that many of these cities had rules prohibiting developers from putting new dollar stores within a specific distance of existing ones ranging from 2,500 feet apart to two miles apart depending on the city.

One moratorium from Fort Worth, Texas included exceptions for dollar stores that planned to dedicate at least 10% of their shelf space to fresh foods like produce, meat and dairy.

Another from Oklahoma City granted an exception if a business would dedicate at least 500 square feet of floor space to these fresh products.

Meanwhile, Forest Park, Georgia adopted an ordinance prohibiting the city from issuing business licenses to more than three dollar stores at a time. However, if the city's population were to exceed 30,000 residents, it would offer one additional license for every 5,000 residents.

Youngstown's goal is to limit the over-saturation of dollar stores in the city to encourage greater diversity of retail choices for consumers and promote a community-based approach for access to fresh food items like fresh meat and produce.

21 News previously reported that Youngstown has 22 dollar stores in the city with many of them being in walking distance of one another. The moratorium would not affect dollar stores that are already open, but will prevent new ones from coming in.

The committee is set to reconvene April 23 to discuss the moratorium further.