City considers changes to zoning

Seeks to tighten agriculture rules

Painesville City Council is considering zoning changes that planners say would “tighten” agriculture rules and require city approval to sell plants grown for personal use, while in a related action it recently banned the keeping of livestock within city limits.

City Planning Director Sarah Sitterle said that the proposed changes reflect the fact that Painesville is “largely built out.”

“The discussion was to tighten it up a little bit to look at how we could maybe control some of the uses that could potentially be more obnoxious, more negative to the surrounding property owners within the city but still allow certain types of agricultural uses to occur,” added city consultant Rita McMahon.

The proposed zoning changes would define agriculture uses as growing crops, flowers and grapes for sale. Landowners would need a conditional use permit for these activities. The city would continue to restrict these uses to properties that are five acres or larger and zoned R-1 single-family residential or S-1 special.

The new rules would not prevent residents from raising domesticated animals on their properties, including chickens as well as dogs, cats, gerbils, pot belly pigs and other household animals.

The rules would also still allow personal gardening, meaning that residents could continue to grow vegetables, flowers, fruits and other plants for personal use on their residential properties. A new provision would require approval from city planning officials before residents could sell any extra plants.

“If someone had maybe some tomatoes, they had a little bumper crop and they wanted to maybe put a basket of them… they could do that,” Sitterle said. “It wouldn’t be like building a shed on the front of their property

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where it’s clearly a roadside stand that wouldn’t be permitted.”

Sitterle said that agriculture would also be considered a primary use, so a landowner would not be able to live on a parcel being used for commercial farming. Landowners would also not be able to use RVs, mobile homes or similar structures as accessory structures on agricultural properties.

McMahon said that there are two properties currently being used for agriculture in Painesville, both for growing trees. The new rules would also apply to 10 more properties that are currently vacant.

While council is not set to vote on the zoning changes until mid-April, a separate livestock ban has already gone into effect. The city defines livestock as including horses, sheep, cattle, mules, swine and other animals.

“Right now, we are not aware that any of those exist within the city limits at this point in time,” McMahon said.

She added that the city’s animal cruelty laws still apply to livestock being transported through the city. McMahon said that the changes were introduced after a couple of landowners talked about bringing livestock into the city.

“In a densely developed community like Painesville, it just doesn’t seem to make sense,” she said.

Another landowner has talked about using an RV as a shed, which McMahon said is “really not an appropriate use of an RV.”

The zoning changes and livestock ban were recommended by Painesville’s Planning Commission in a 3-0 vote on March 14.

Council approved the livestock ban in a 6-0 vote at its March 18 meeting, with Councilwoman Lori DiNallo excused on leave.

Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing for the zoning changes at its April 15 meeting, according to a recent city manager’s report.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Courtroom 1, Painesville City Hall, 7 Richmond St.