Troy council enacts 270-day moratorium on new community-oriented residential social service facility applications

The Troy City Council on Sept. 2 adopted Ordinance O25-20-25, declaring a 270-day moratorium on the processing, issuance and approval of new applications for community-oriented residential social service facilities in the city.

The council's law and ordinance committee recommended the moratorium, saying additional research and code updates are required before the city can provide final recommendations in the Unified Development Code. The committee report said the city retained a consultant (American StructurePoint) for the zoning update and that further research specific to this use is needed.

During committee discussion, council members raised questions about the consultant's engagement, including one member noting an undated letter from David Baird (described as a consultant with StructurePoint who is not licensed to practice law in Ohio) and whether the consultant team had had access to the city's zoning and building code documents when bidding the prior contract. Staff responded that the consultant had received relevant codes as part of the bid submission.

Council moved to suspend readings and adopted the emergency ordinance the same night; the ordinance will pause new applications for 270 days to allow staff and consultants to research code language and propose updates in the Unified Development Code process. The ordinance was adopted by recorded roll-call vote; no exceptions or waivers were recorded during the meeting.