The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Council reviewing new zoning code
Lorain City Council has begun its review of the city’s new rules for using land and locating homes and businesses.
On Oct. 26, Council held a work session to examine the draft planning and zoning code.
If approved, it will be the city’s first comprehensive zoning update in more than 35 years.
“I want to thank City Council for giving us the opportunity to talk about this particular legislation and the new zoning code,” said Max Upton, building, housing and planning director.
In 2018, Council adopted a new comprehensive plan.
One of the actual implementation steps is adopting a new zoning code, Upton said.
So far, the code has involved a number of city departments and workers.
Upton thanked Mayor Jack Bradley, Safety-Service Director Sanford Washington, Assistant Law Director Kenneth Resar, Chief Building Official Richard Klinar, Deputy Engineer Guy Singer and Drew Crawford, neighborhood development specialist in the Building, Housing and Planning Department.
Simplify, simplify
“This particular zoning code simplifies our current code,” Upton said.
Lorain’s zoning will go from 12 to eight residential districts, creates a new mixed use district and allows for staff reviews, with more preparations of staff recommendations for the Lorain City Planning Commission and Council.
The draft document ran about 175 pages.
Resar said he and Klinar reviewed it line by line with input from department heads, then revised it.
The Planning Commis
sion has recommended it for Council approval.
“It’s not a slight rework, it’s a complete rework of the code,” with changes to the number and types of classifications and permitted uses, Resar said. “It is a quite extensive change.”
Council could adopt the code by a majority vote.
But the Oct. 26 review, and additional reviews, would be needed for Council to change the zoning code before a public hearing scheduled Nov. 23.
Spot zoning
Crawford also explained the new city zoning map and elimination of “spot zoning” with mixed uses of land next to each other in a way that does not make sense.
He cited the example of Houston, a city infamous for poor zoning, with the possibility of a hospital next to a cemetery next to a church next to an industrial area.
“A lot of people don’t like that,” Crawford said. “So, we’re trying to eliminate,
on obviously on a much smaller scale, the zoning that doesn’t make sense for the city.”
The new code is more comprehensive, provides predictable and accessible information for anyone who wants to build and do business in Lorain and streamlines the process for construction.
It tries to eliminate inappropriate uses while allowing future development that creates a higher quality of life in Lorain, Crawford said.
Practical effects
The zoning has residential, business, industrial and mixed-use districts.
The new code includes special purpose zoning, conditional uses, and rules for site development plans, landscaping and buffering, off-street parking, signage and nonconforming uses.
Resar, Klinar and Upton gave examples of what houses and businesses would be permitted in what areas of the city.
Council members had questions about the practical effects of the code.
For example, Ward 3 Councilwoman Pamela Carter asked about locations of day care centers.
Resar noted pre-existing uses will be “grandfathered”
in and could continue under the new zoning code.
But certain new businesses will not be allowed to start in certain zoning districts of the city, depending on permitted uses, he said.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Beth Henley asked about the definition of group homes and where they could be.
Upton and Resar said the code could remove a vague definition of “group home” and update it with definitions of residential social service facilities and boarding houses.
Ward 2 Councilman Rob McFarland asked about areas allowing community gardens, which have become assets to the neighborhoods of the ward.
Councilwoman-at-large Mary Springowski called for additional input from McFarland, Henley and Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion because of community gardens in those wards.
Council President Joel Arredondo asked about zoning for downtown Lorain, how property owners use their buildings and how the zoning could help revitalize Broadway and its environs.
Upton explained how the code includes rules for things such as outdoor display areas, outdoor seating for restaurants and drive
thru automated teller machines.
More to come
Council spent more than an hour reviewing the document, but did not get through every chapter.
Carrion asked for staff to highlight key areas where the zoning code will change, along with broader Council discussion about where they hope to see the city in five or 10 years.
“This is a lot of information,” with more to come once Council starts digging, Carrion said.
Council is not limited to just two work sessions for the evaluation, Springowski said.
“We will take as much time as is needed in order to answer everybody’s questions, and to go over this very thoroughly, to make sure that we are doing the best possible job in rezoning the city and bringing everything up to date that is, you know, that we can possibly do,” she said.
With the new code, Klinar suggested the city hire a full time planning and zoning administrator due to its comprehensive nature.
Council will consider creating that position.
A public hearing on the new zoning code is scheduled for Nov. 23.