Bradford City’s zoning hearing board approved a variance for a Mill Street property where the owner hopes to open a retail store.

The board held a brief hearing Tuesday evening to consider a petition from local man Todd Burkhouse to use 35 Mill St., Bradford, for retail sales. The building is currently being used for storage.

Burkhouse told the board the store would be for “discount items from major department stores,” such as Lowe’s, Walmart and Home Depot. The items will be “mostly returns or shelf-pulls from stores,” he noted.

“I think it would greatly help the area, as far as remodeling home,” Burkhouse said of the new store.

The property is currently in an R-2 zoning district, and using it for the purpose proposed by Burkhouse would be a violation of the city’s zoning code without an approved variance.

John Peterson, the city’s zoning and health officer, said he posted legal ads in The Era on Nov. 19 and Nov. 26, and he received “no phone calls or inquiries concerning the project.”

The only concern the board had before taking the vote was parking.

“That’s a very busy road,” noted board member Bill Black.

Burkhouse talked to the board about possible parking spots.

Before the vote was taken, Peterson noted the building had been a business in the past — at one time it was the location of a beer distributor —but it was being used as a warehouse at the time city officials adopted the new code.

The board voted to grant the variance.

Burkhouse noted that he hopes to open very soon.