Comfort Zone appeals county order to limit adult items

When the owners of Comfort Zone first pitched their idea for a local business to Prince George's County, it was supposed to resemble a simple dollar store.

But as adult items — from dildos and vibrators to costumes and lingerie — began overwhelming the novelty store's space, College Park officials began to take notice and said the convenience store was over-sexed. Store owners were asked to remove a portion of the controversial merchandise, but they immediately contested the citation.

A hearing to appeal this decision was scheduled for Jan. 19 before the county Board of Zoning Appeals, but it was postponed until March because not enough members were present to hold a vote, said Bob Ryan, the city's public services director.

Robert Carl, an owner of the store, declined to comment.

For some College Park City Council members, it's clear the store leaves little to the imagination.

"I don't think what they're selling there is that big of a deal, but you have to follow the rules, and it seems pretty obvious that they're not," said District 4 Councilman Marcus Afzali. "You don't even have to go in there to tell it's clearly not a general store."

But in a November 2010 interview with The Diamondback, Carl said selling these items was a savvy business decision.

"I was trying to service the niche a little better than what was being done," Carl previously said. "A lot of [stores] are corporate-owned, so they can't directly service their immediate client base, and a lot of them have extremely high mark-ups on their merchandise."

Comfort Zone — which is located at 9721 Baltimore Ave., north of the campus on Route 1— first received a zoning violation Oct. 12, 2010. County zoning laws mandate that for stores in commercial areas, no more than 10 percent of their merchandise and floor space consist of adult items. The county citation ordered Comfort Zone owners to correct the percentage within 30 days.

In addition, county laws stipulate an adult store must be at least 1,000 feet from a residential neighborhood. Comfort Zone sits less than 100 feet from city homes, said Fazlul Kabir, secretary for the North College Park Citizens Association. The local neighborhood group first became involved in the dispute in November 2010 when members asked Comfort Zone owners to discuss their business.

"My own thoughts are based on what I've heard from City officials, who think they are in violation of the Use and Occupation (U&O) permit for carrying merchandise that they are not allowed to carry," Kabir wrote in an e-mail.

The association discussed the store and its contents at its meeting Jan. 13.

Member Larry Bleau said although the group did not take an official stance, there seemed to be an agreement amongst attendees: "The general sense was most didn't like the store there," he said.

District 2 Councilman Jack Perry called Comfort Zone an "adult toy store" and said the owners will need to contest this allegation at the pending hearing.

"We, the city, believe the operator of the establishment is not in compliance with the Use and Occupancy permit that it was given by Prince George's County," he said. "And they're going to have to prove otherwise."

Some students, such as senior computer science major Demetra Kallinikos, said they'd never heard of Comfort Zone but noted its location wasn't ideal.

"I feel kind of bad because I know elementary schoolers are going to be exposed to it, and, of course, they're going to be curious," she said.

roubein at umdbk dot com