Commissioners push to expand downtown retail and small medical uses, limit large entertainment and gyms

Commissioners said the downtown zoning description and the UDCs consolidated-use table conflict: the downtown text describes a walkable urban center with retail and small businesses, but the table currently omits several retail and office uses.

"If you refer to the description of the Downtown Zoning District, it specifically mentions retail," Travis said, noting that the text should control and the table will be corrected in the next draft. Commissioners asked staff to make the table and the map consistent so the downtown district does not render existing uses nonconforming.

Commissioners supported adding medical and dental clinics to the downtown permitted uses but with a size limitation so that small clinics could be administratively approved while larger facilities would require council review. Several commissioners proposed a 3,000-square-foot administrative threshold for clinics and many other service uses.

On entertainment uses, commissioners agreed to permit pop-up outdoor events, farmers markets and small venues but to require council review for major, permanent or higher-impact outdoor or indoor-entertainment proposals. Commissioners also discussed gyms and suggested limiting downtown gym footprints (a 3,000-square-foot threshold was proposed) to avoid allowing large regional gyms in the walkable core.

Staff will revise the consolidated-use table, add the agreed size limits and limited-use/conditional-use paths for downtown proposals, and return with a draft text amendment and corrected table.