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Council weighs zoning rewrite, adds safeguards for proposed Neighborhood Business district
Summary
Council reviewed Ordinance 162026 — a broad rewrite of business-district rules returned from the planning commission — and agreed to restore the office building (OB) designation, make several uses conditional and send the redrafted text back to planning for public hearings. Members pressed staff for clearer notice and protections for adjacent residential neighborhoods.
North Canton’s committee of the whole spent the first portion of its June meeting on a proposed rewrite of the city’s business-district code, Ordinance 162026, which the planning commission amended and returned for further council consideration.
City planning staff told the committee the revised code would restore the office-building (OB) district — protecting eight parcels on Schneider Street from a premature elimination — and add a newly defined Neighborhood Business (NB) district intended as a stepped-down buffer between larger commercial zones and residences. The draft would make multi-family housing a conditional use across commercial districts, allow commercial kitchens in some business districts but prohibit them in NB and OB, and permit live-work units in several business districts while treating other uses as conditional or non-permitted.
Several council members pressed staff and the city law director about how NB would be implemented on the ground. Staff said a request to place property in NB would require a map amendment: such rezoning triggers geographic notice and a public hearing before the planning commission. Council members, however, worried that once a district is established many uses permitted “by right” could be implemented without separate neighbor notification. To address those concerns, members proposed changing several initially permitted uses to conditional status so planning would review each application and notify nearby residents.
The committee also discussed a proposed rule for computer/data centers: planners and the law director said large data centers would be non-permitted in most business districts and conditional only in limited industrial (LI) zones. Staff said no data-center applications are pending, but added the conditional pathway would allow planning commission review and public hearings if an applicant appears.
After extended discussion about adjacency, neighborhood context and the balance between predictable rules and discretionary checks, the council voted to amend the draft consistent with the planning commission’s comments and to send the updated ordinance back to planning for formal hearings and a map process. The committee then voted to postpone final consideration until after the planning commission’s recommendation is returned to council.
Next steps: the planning commission will hold public hearings on the revised text; staff said the item could return to council to set a public hearing and begin ordinance readings following planning’s recommendation.
