APC recommends approval of rezoning to allow offices, martial arts studio on Mount Auburn Road with UDC

The Area Plan Commission on April 3 voted 8-0 to recommend rezoning 1031 Mount Auburn Road from M-2 to M-1, allowing professional offices and other lower-intensity commercial uses in a multi-tenant building.

Matt Layman of R. Layman & Son Consulting presented the petition on behalf of Shellback Realty, LLC and said the applicant will submit a use-and-development commitment (UDC) incorporating specific restrictions requested by the Mount Auburn Neighborhood Association.

Blaine Oliver, president of the Mount Auburn Neighborhood Association, told the commission the association does not oppose the downzoning to M-1 or office uses but asked the applicant to remove several use groups from allowable uses in the UDC. Oliver read a proposed list of nine use groups the association wants prohibited, including liquor stores, mortuaries, heavy chemical processing, engine overhaul, kennels and adult uses. “We’re not here to oppose the down zoning,” Oliver said, but asked the commission to protect nearby residences by trimming allowable uses.

Layman agreed that the applicant would include the neighborhood association’s requested prohibitions and file the UDC before the case proceeds to the City Council. “We agreed 100% with all of the items he listed for the UDC, and we will get that filed,” Layman told the commission.

The staff report said the building historically operated as a health club and later housed a martial arts school and other professional tenants; no UDC was on file at time of filing. The petition would formally allow office uses that had been operating in the building without a zone that explicitly permitted them. The staff recommendation was for approval with the UDC attached.

The APC’s recommendation (8-0) advances the rezoning to City Council with the neighborhood’s list of prohibited uses to be added verbatim to the UDC prior to council review.