Label
Plan Commission Recommendations for Light Industrial Zoning
Councilman Martinez
Title
Submitting to the Toledo City Plan Commission a request to comprehensively analyze Light Industrial Zoning with intent to streamline and incentivize development or redevelopment, and declaring an emergency
Summary
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
According to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the regulatory burdens inherent in the development or redevelopment of light industrial sites can be reduced or hastened by changes to zoning codes and zoning approval processes. "Zoning is the most significant regulatory power of local government... it actually has significant impacts on the economy. [T]he time is right to link reform of outdated zoning laws with much better social and economic outcomes."
In order to attract more small- or medium-size industrial partners to Toledo, a comprehensive approach to recruitment must begin at the planning level and include considerations of existing land use plans, community plans, modern development techniques, and updated zoning and planning regulations. The process of zoning or rezoning, and the application of zoning and planning regulations should improve the developmental process for new or returning business owners rather than impede or prevent it.
As the Toledo City Plan Commission works through an overhaul of existing zoning codes, it would be prudent to include an emphasis on the general grouping of Light Industrial- which could be expanded to make a larger variety of businesses suitable for Toledo's vacant industrial buildings and shovel-ready parcels.
Several cities in Ohio and the Midwest, like Indianapolis, Detroit, Columbus, and Cleveland have been instituting zoning code rewrites in the past decade to match the pace of economic progress, create cluster industries, attract new developers, and ultimately provide their populations with high-paying job opportunities. Toledo can duplicate or alter some of these efforts to achieve ...
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