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Kentwood commission approves zoning changes to allow limited expansion of nonconforming auto repairs and tighten self-storage and freight-terminal rules
Summary
The commission approved a package of zoning amendments: allowing existing legal nonconforming auto-repair businesses in the form-based code to expand as a special land use; permitting taller fences when required by other codes; tightening motor freight-terminal definitions; and making self-storage a special land use with separation and design standards.
The Kentwood City Commission voted to adopt a set of zoning ordinance amendments intended to clarify and tighten several land-use categories.
Planning staff explained the changes at a public hearing: owners of legal nonconforming auto-repair businesses located in the form-based-code area would be allowed to expand only through a special-land-use approval process, preserving the grandfathered status of existing operations but preventing new standalone repair businesses in those zones. The amendment requires planning-commission review to ensure any expansion meets form-based-code design standards.
Another change allows fence heights greater than six feet in commercial districts when a higher fence is required by other applicable municipal, state or federal codes (for example, electrical-substation security fencing). The motor freight-terminal definition was revised so that a terminal may not be only an unpaved parking lot; the change requires paved surfaces and a principal terminal building and makes motor freight terminals a special land use to ensure appropriate site and design review.
Self-storage warehouses were reclassified as a special land use with new standards: 1,000-foot separation from similar uses in some contexts, 500-foot separation from certain arterials, minimum setbacks, facade standards consistent with industrial zones, and screening requirements to reduce visual impacts. Planning staff noted Kentwood currently has higher square feet of storage per capita than state and national averages; the change imposes location and design constraints to manage future growth.
Planning commission recommended the package and the city commission approved it by roll-call vote at the meeting.
Why it matters: the amendments are designed to protect neighborhood character, prevent low-standard truck-parking lots, and ensure expansion of existing businesses occurs under site-review standards.
What’s next: the changes will apply to future applications; property owners who qualify as legal nonconforming may apply for expansion only through the special-land-use review process.
Quotes from the meeting: "This would allow existing legal nonconforming uses in the form-based code to expand as a special land use," — Planning staff (Joe).
