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Lancaster County Council approves UDO text amendment to allow four‑story hotels in highway corridor overlay
Summary
The Lancaster County Council voted unanimously to amend the Unified Development Ordinance to allow exceptions in the highway corridor overlay for general business parcels to build up to four stories, not to exceed 55 feet, after staff and the Planning Commission recommended a narrower alternative to an applicant’s original request.
Lancaster County Council voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that will allow certain general business parcels inside the highway corridor overlay to be developed as four‑story structures not to exceed 55 feet.
The change was requested by an applicant seeking to build a hotel and was considered during the council’s public hearing and first‑reading of Ordinance 2025‑1945. Planning staff, represented by planner Miss Harden, told council members the applicant (identified in the application as Alkesh Patel of OM Hotels) had asked to allow four stories or 55 feet, whichever is greater. Planning staff and the Planning Commission recommended a narrower amendment that would allow up to 50 feet or five stories in some materials; after discussion the ordinance language was amended on the floor to read “four stories, not to exceed 55 feet,” which satisfied the applicant and planning staff.
The nut of the council’s discussion centered on public‑safety and airport overlay constraints. Miss Harden explained the county measures building height from highest ground/foundation to the highest point of the structure and said sprinklers are required in commercial developments. She said the county’s fire marshal had noted that taller ladder trucks are limited and that some areas south of Indian Land may not be served by county tower trucks; council members also noted mutual‑aid agreements with city fire services that provide ladder‑truck coverage in parts of the county. The ordinance as amended also remains subject to aviation overlay restrictions where those overlays apply.
Council member questions prompted clarifications about what the public notices stated and what the ordinance text would read; the council made a floor amendment to explicitly permit “four stories, not to exceed 55 feet.” The amendment passed, and the final vote to approve Ordinance 2025‑1945 as amended was unanimous, 7–0.
Beyond the immediate hotel proposal, planning staff told council there are already taller buildings in parts of the 521 corridor that were built under different zoning or planned‑development agreements; the amendment applies only to general business parcels covered by the highway corridor overlay as described in the ordinance.
The ordinance was approved on first reading; the council completed the public hearing with no registered public speakers on the item and will follow the county’s ordinance adoption schedule for subsequent readings or final adoption steps.
