Council urges changes to Light Business table for McGinnis site; commission weighs setbacks, uses and stormwater

Chairperson Wittenheiser told the Columbia Planning Commission at its Feb. 18 workshop that borough council has reviewed and flagged a number of changes to the Light Business (LB) district permitted-uses table for the McGinnis text amendments and wants the commission to move forward with those changes.

The guidance sent from council, Wittenheiser said, highlights multiple institutional and accessory uses that were previously permitted but that council now recommends changing to “not permitted” or to a special-exception classification. “They’ve given us some guidance here,” Wittenheiser said.

The commission spent the meeting reviewing examples in the packet and debating how to handle uses such as concrete or plaster product manufacturing, chemical products that “are not highly hazardous or toxic,” colleges or university support facilities, community centers, and publicly owned recreation. Several commissioners said the phrase “not highly hazardous” is subjective and recommended handling such uses case…