Panel approves 3 new zoning districts

By Mary Smith

The changes must be approved by trustees to become law.

MINERAL RIDGE — Weathersfield Township Zoning Commission has approved the creation of three new zoning districts to encourage business and industrial growth in the township and to establish Joint Economic Development Districts.

To be added to local zoning law are: Commercial-C, to accommodate commercial strip development; Industrial-A, to encourage light industrial, storage and warehouse uses; and Industrial-B, to encourage major industrial, storage and warehouse uses.

Current zoning classifications are: Residential-A, single family dwellings; Residential-B, duplexes and multifamily units; and Commercial-A, light commercial use such as banks and professional offices; and Industrial, for any industrial or manufacturing use.

Joint Economic Development Districts enable townships, cities and villages to address concerns of diminishing local revenues, economic development, growth and annexation.

Commercial C districts will permit these uses: commercial broadcasting stations, communication stations, communication towers, radio towers, cell telephone towers and all other types of commercial business, such as strip malls.

Conditionally permitted uses include: auto sales, fueling, servicing, repairing, towing, storage and washing businesses; hotels, motels, restaurants, outdoor or roadside display or sales of merchandise and adult bookstores or gift shops and tattoo and body-piercing businesses, neither of which can be located within 1,000 feet of a church or school. Adult bookstores cannot be within 1,000 feet of a residential district.

The Industrial-A district is for light industrial, manufacturing, processing, storage and warehousing that are free of hazardous or objectionable elements such as noise, odor, smoke, dust or glare, and the main operation is performed within enclosed structures.

Conditional uses permitted include storage and wholesaling establishments engaged in transportation, storing, handling or selling merchandise to retail, industrial or professional users, or acting as agents in buying and selling merchandise.

Industrial-B zoning is for large-space users and is designed to encourage the development of light manufacturing, processing and major research and testing operations.

The changes, passed Thursday, must also be approved by township trustees before becoming law.