Kent City Council on Wednesday declined a request to rezone two parcels on the city’s south side from industrial to R-3 high-density residential and asked city staff to study an overlay district that would let residential uses proceed only if specific environmental and design conditions are met.

The parcels in question include the block addressed as 600 Franklin Avenue and an adjacent parcel identified in the application as 17-012-10-00-072-002. The rezoning was proposed after the Portage County land bank secured a state brownfield grant and Hometown Bank and a private developer signaled interest in redevelopment.

Why it matters: The site contains historic railroad-era buildings and documented “chemicals of concern.” Residents and local manufacturers warned the council that changing the zoning to allow higher-density housing risks public-health and safety issues, increased traffic through neighborhood streets and loss of industrial land and jobs. Developers said they would only invest in residential cleanup and construction if there were assurances from the city that residential uses would be permitted once a higher cleanup standard was achieved.

What council did and why: After about an hour of council questions and more than two dozen public comments — including residents, business owners and the developer — Council voted first to ask city staff to research whether an overlay district could bridge competing goals: preserve industrial zoning as the default while allowing a conditional R-3 overlay that would only take effect after state environmental review and a No Further Action / Covenant Not to Sue from the Ohio EPA. Council then voted to uphold the Planning Commission’s unanimous recommendation against rezoning the parcels.

What supporters and opponents said: Jake Shields, a representative of Great Box Capital, which said it would develop rental townhomes if rezoning were approved, told council that cleaning to residential standards would be an extra expense beyond the land-bank’s planned industrial cleanup. “In the worst case, it’s gonna be cleaned up to industrial,” Shields said. “The only difference is then we’re the ones that would be…coming back and trying to come up with another way to do something with this property.”

Residents and business owners strongly disagreed. Todd Packer, who gave his address as 543 Rockwell Street, asked council to “maintain the industrial zoning designation for the area under discussion…until we know the results of the remediation of that area.” Manufacturer Travis Copeland, owner of Cope and Machine, said his company has invested tens of millions of dollars in nearby industrial properties and warned that residential rezoning next to active industrial operations and a freight rail line would create operational conflicts and risk jobs. “Rezoning the high density residential is incompatible with the area’s industrial nature,” Copeland said.

Historic-preservation concerns were also raised. Sally Burnell, a longtime Kent resident and preservation advocate, urged the council not to lose the rail-shop buildings built by Marvin Kent and said the structures had potential for reuse as a museum or community center.

Technical and funding constraints: City planning staff and outside consultants told council the site is a brownfield and that the current grant award and voluntary action plan (VAP) work funded through the land bank and the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) are scoped to achieve industrial/commercial standards. Planning staff and the developer said achieving residential standards would require additional assessment and substantially more soil removal and remediation — and additional funding from the developer. Planning staff flagged two remediation figures included in the materials: roughly 81,385 square feet of soil removal to reach industrial/commercial standards, versus approximately 506,593 square feet to reach full residential standards. The land-bank grant referenced a roughly $1.3 million state award and a required local match described in the discussion as about $435,000.

Staff direction and next steps: Council asked staff to return with feasibility findings about using an overlay district under the city zoning code (Chapter 11.04 was cited in staff comments). Staff said an overlay could preserve the underlying industrial zoning and attach specific triggers or conditions — such as a completed VAP, a No Further Action (NFA) letter and a Covenant Not to Sue from the Ohio EPA — before R-3 uses would be allowed. Council did not adopt any rezoning tonight; the Planning Commission decision stands unless council later takes a different final vote.

Context and constraints: Planning staff emphasized the Ohio EPA’s VAP as the statutory cleanup mechanism for the chemicals of concern on the parcel; the city cannot set cleanup standards independently of the state program. Staff also noted that the current grant agreement is between the Portage County land bank and ODOD, and any effect on that grant would be decided by ODOD and Ohio EPA, not by the city alone.

What was not decided: Council did not approve any specific development plan, change the zoning map, or commit the city to fund remediation. If the overlay option moves forward, staff said it would likely require months of work with certified environmental professionals and detailed, site-specific assessments before any residential approvals could be considered.

Bottom line: Council preserved the Planning Commission outcome by voting against the rezoning but signaled willingness to pursue a third option — an overlay that would only allow residential uses after state-certified remediation and other conditions — and asked staff to return with a feasibility report.