Columbia planning commission reviews light-business zoning edits, recommends removing airport language

Columbia Borough Planning Commission members on March 18 reviewed draft amendments to the borough’s light-business zoning district and its table of permitted uses and recommended removing a provision that currently allows continuation or expansion of an airport on properties in that district.

“Light business district. The description of that is to provide for a range of light commercial, institutional, and industrial uses in a manner that is compatible with adjacent homes, to also provide for continuation of the airport if desired by the property owner,” Mary (Planning Commission member) said, reading the current wording and urging that the airport clause be deleted.

The commission’s discussion centered on several recurring problems staff and commenters identified in the draft: inconsistent cross-references to Section 22030 (additional requirements for principal uses) and Section 22031 (accessory uses); uses listed in the table that lack implementing standards in the ordinance (warehousing, trucking terminals, hospitals); and a series of use-classification questions — for example, whether child day care should remain an accessory use or be allowed as a principal use in the light-business district.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the existing airport language and certain permitted uses could create conflicts with adjacent residential neighborhoods and might oblige the borough to defend uses that are no longer intended. They also flagged potential implementation gaps: the table of uses references standards in Section 22030 that, in several cases, are either absent or split between indoor and outdoor provisions.

Key recommendations and discussion points

- R…