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Planning board recommends rezoning and bicycle-parking change for Griffith Business Park
Summary
The board recommended that the Common Council approve Ordinance 9787 to rezoning about 200+ acres from 'Airfield' to 'Griffith Business Park Flex Industrial' and to change the industrial bicycle-parking standard from a floor-area basis to one space per 20 employees.
The City of Rome Planning Board on May 6 unanimously recommended that the Common Council approve a local zoning amendment (Ordinance 9787) to reclassify roughly 200 acres from an Airfield district to the Griffith Business Park Flex Industrial District and to amend the bicycle-parking table to require one bicycle space per 20 employees for industrial general uses.
Matt Andrews of the Department of Community and Economic Development presented the ordinance on behalf of Mayor Lanigan and First Ward Councilor Sparece. Andrews said the change responds to a request from County Executive Vicente and supports the Triangle redevelopment plan; the County Board of Legislators previously issued a SEQR negative declaration on the broader redevelopment and environmental analysis.
Why it matters: The rezoning attaches allowable uses to a parcel previously designated “Airfield” and aligns zoning with anticipated industrial users. The board also adjusted bicycle-parking requirements to an employee-based metric rather than the prior square-footage metric, a change that substantially reduces the required bicycle spaces for very large facilities.
Andrews said the proposed change would substitute a parking standard based on employees: “Based on an employee highest shift employee, calculation with 1 space for 20 employees… this particular project would yield a required minimum of 15 bike parking spaces,” he said, contrasting that with the much larger number that the existing square-footage method could require for a million-plus-square-foot facility.
Oneida County planning staff provided a recommendation of approval to the city, and the county board had issued its SEQR negative declaration on April 9, 2025, which the city will rely on for environmental review of the zoning amendment.
The planning board voted unanimously to recommend that the Common Council approve the map amendment and the table/language modification to the bicycle-parking requirement as presented.
What’s next: The recommendation will be forwarded to the Rome Common Council for final action.
