Zips and dips

Great story on Friday's Enquirer.com about Chris Torbeck's iconic soft-serve Zip Dip and the government bureaucracy's effort to grind him down out in Green Township.

Except that the bureaucrats seem like human beings, Torbeck doesn't sound bitter and there is a grain of sense in all that government grinding. The ice cream store is a non-conforming use, which means because Torbeck altered his operation by adding some picnic tables he has to comply with current zoning laws. That means eventually he will have to move the shop a safer distance back from the curb of busy Harrison Avenue. I hope this move toward safety, which nobody is making him do immediately, won't put him out of business. Places like Zip Dip deserve to be cherished by the ice cream lovers of future generations.

The planning and zoning officials only want people to be safe. But there is one grain of sand in their soft serve. Zoning regs will require elimination of Zip Dip's rooftop neon ice cream cone sign when the building is moved. The community should insist on a waiver for this one or march on the courthouse with dripping cones in hand.