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Planning commission advances zoning changes to support arts, small breweries and maker businesses downtown
Summary
Commissioners unanimously advanced OTA 2026-004 to align the Unified Development Ordinance with the city's Arts & Cultural District ordinance, adding definitions and permitted locations for microbreweries/microdistilleries, artisan workshops, sound studios, theaters, motion picture production, and business incubators.
The Planning Commission on May 21 voted 7-0 to forward Ordinance Text Amendment OTA 2026-004 to City Council after a staff presentation explaining multiple definitions and use-table changes meant to support arts, cultural industries and small-scale food and beverage producers in Suffolk’s downtown and other commercial districts.
Staff planner Gonzalo Borges said the amendment clarifies definitions (for example classifying microbreweries/microdistilleries/microwineries/microcideries/micromeads as establishments producing no more than 15,000 barrels annually or no more than 36,000 gallons of distilled spirits per year) and updates where those uses are permitted or conditionally permitted. Borges also said the ordinance adds or clarifies uses such as "arts, crafts, boutique, or artisan workshop" (allowing a primary retail front with up to 2,000 square feet for a workshop), costume manufacturing (small-scale production without assembly-line processes), motion-picture and video production, theaters, sound recording facilities, research and development offices, and business incubators.
Commissioners asked whether accessory outdoor seating and entertainment were covered; staff confirmed outdoor seating is permitted as an accessory use and that live entertainment before 10 p.m. is generally allowed where entertainment is permitted, with after-10 p.m. performances requiring a CUP in certain districts. No members of the public spoke for or against the amendment.
Borges said the changes are intended to align the UDO with the Arts & Cultural District ordinance adopted in October 2025 and to expand economic opportunities for small cultural businesses. The commission’s 7-0 vote forwards the amendment to City Council on June 17, 2026.
