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Planning staff proposes zoning text amendments to support small makers, urban storefronts and bicycle parking
Summary
Planning staff outlined a package of zoning text amendments including a new "artisan industry" use capped at 10,000 sq. ft. and 10 employees, a requirement that urban mixed‑use building entrances face the street, minimum bicycle parking standards, and other cleanups and policy options.
The borough's land use reform subcommittee presented several proposed zoning text amendments to encourage infill redevelopment, small‑scale manufacturing and active transportation.
Staff member Jared outlined the principal changes under consideration. The proposed "artisan industry" use would permit small-scale manufacturing that allows on-site sales and tastings of goods produced on the property; the proposal limits such uses to 10,000 square feet and no more than 10 employees on site at any time, and adds a minimum parking requirement. Jared described the intent as tailoring industrial uses to a compact urban context rather than large factory footprints.
For the Urban Mixed Use (UM) district, staff proposed a modest but targeted change: require building entrances to face the street rather than permit developers to place primary entrances on the parking-lot side. Jared said this small change is important for creating an urban street presence: "This very small but impactful change would require developers as a standard in the zoning ordinance to put the entrance facing the street."
Staff also proposed minimum bicycle parking standards tied to vehicle-parking scale (for example, adding bike racks for lots with 10 or more vehicle spaces) and a cleanup to massage‑therapist licensing language in borough code. The subcommittee flagged two emerging items for further study: where to allow electric vehicle charging, and consideration of maximum vehicle parking to discourage oversized lots.
During public comment, Ralph Miller and Tammy Miller, who described themselves as Miller's Family Spirits, said they plan to locate a small‑scale bottling and mixing operation in East High Street's Field Millworks building and welcomed the artisan‑industry proposal because it would permit on-site retail sales and tastings that current zoning disallows. Miller described the operation as a small craft mixing and bottling business partnered with an experienced Tennessee distillery.
Staff said separate ongoing work includes a neighborhood review of historic blocks using Sanborn maps and historic photographs to determine where mixed-use patterns were previously common but are now restricted by zoning; that analysis could inform targeted zoning adjustments in older neighborhoods.
