Planning commission recommends stricter rules for auto sales lots, sends Text 2078-2017 to City Council

Senior Planner Lori Matthews told the Morristown Regional Planning Commission that vehicle display practices—cars placed in the city right-of-way and customer parking used for sales—were creating visibility and congestion problems and pedestrian safety risks. Staff recommended removing motor-vehicle sales as a use by right in Central Business and Intermediate Business zones and adding it as a Use on Review that requires a site plan showing minimum standards.

The proposal, filed as Text 2078-2017, would require site plans to include, at minimum, existing lot area and dimensions, proposed site layout and parking, traffic patterns, landscaping, lighting, signage location, garbage disposal, and utilities and grading if needed. Staff told the commission the site plan must show three dedicated customer parking stalls and 15 dedicated sales-staff parking stalls that meet size requirements, hard dustless parking surfaces, and a staff-approved physical barrier where vehicles would otherwise be displayed along a property line. New sites would be required to provide a 10-foot landscaped strip or, for redevelopment, a smaller landscaped area plus a barrier to prevent sales stock from intruding into the public right-of-way. Fire Department review would be required to confirm emergency access.

Planning staff said the proposed language largely mirrors state regulations and current city code standards for site-plan elements; the staff recommendation to the commission was to forward the amendment to City Council for adoption. Mayor Gary Chesney moved to recommend Text 2078-2017 to City Council; Vice Chairman Bill Thompson seconded. The motion carried on a voice vote recorded as 8 yes, 0 no. The transcript records the vote tally but does not list individual roll-call votes.

The commission discussed who would produce required site plans; staff said a site plan could be prepared by an individual with assistance from the Planning Department and would not always require fully engineered plans. The commission also required that a change of use to auto sales trigger submission of the site plan. The commission did not take final action itself; it recommended the draft ordinance language to the City Council for adoption.

The commission's packet and motion record the ordinance as Text 2078-2017; the transcript includes the staff presentation and the unanimous recommendation to City Council.