Old Town retailers want their space

Buffer zones possible solution to loitering issue

FORT COLLINS — What a difference 10 feet can make.

Fed up with loitering crowds at storefronts, merchants in Old Town Square are asking for buffer zones outside their doors.

Retailers have asked for the right to control 10 feet in front of their stores, which would allow them to shoo undesirables from their entryways.

The proposed licensing deal would be similar to the rights of way now granted to restaurants for patio seating.

Old Town Square retailers claim potential customers are intimidated by the gathering of transients or youths around their stores.

“We can ask them…