The Hamburg Town Board is considering a moratorium on new retail construction in order to avoid something seen across the region: New buildings going up and then sitting vacant for months, waiting for a tenant.

The board will vote next month on a six-month moratorium that would prohibit the construction of new retail space unless developers have a signed lease from a store.

Town leaders said there’s a 20 to 30 percent vacancy rate in Hamburg, a rate that has grown in the past few years, and they want to put an end to it.

Board members said there are too many buildings going up but not enough plans in place to fill them. They want agreements in writing before ground is broken.

“If you’ve got a bona fide business that you’re going to operate yourself, or you have a tenant in place that you want to lease to, we don’t want to turn you away,” said Hamburg Town Supervisor Jim Shaw. “But if you’re just going to build on the notion that if we build it, somebody someday will rent it, that makes it more difficult to rent existing older space.”

The moratorium vote is scheduled for May 6.