Streetsboro Planning Commission moves to limit hotels, car washes, marijuana dispensaries
Streetsboro's Planning Commission took the first steps toward limits on car washes, hotels and "adult cannabis" dispensaries.
Last year, Streetsboro enacted a moratorium on car washes and hotels until a market study could be completed. That study, by the Urban Decision Group, showed that the car was market is balanced but will become unbalanced if a fifth car wash, which already has been approved, opens.
The hotel market in Streetsboro has been struggling in recent years since amusement parks in Aurora closed.
Meanwhile, voters agreed to allow recreational marijuana in Ohio, so the commission proposed limits on where stores selling adult-use cannabis can be located.
The commission recommended limits on each to City Council, which will make the final decision
Hotels
John Cieszkowski, Streetsboro's planning and zoning director, said the study shows that the hotel market in the region is saturated. The study, he said, included 17 hotels, half of which are in the city limits.
"For us to have half of the hotels in the area studied is telling," he said.
The new regulations would limit the zoning classifications where hotels could locate. For example, a hotel could not locate in the Commercial-Residential area, which hosts the Shady Lake apartments. A Holiday Inn Express was proposed but never built in this area.
"We don't believe that's an ideal place for a hotel," he said.
Cieszkowski said the city took the opportunity to clean up the code by removing codes allowing "tourist homes," such as bed and breakfasts, effectively banning them. The change also would prevent people from turning their homes into short-term rentals through companies such as Vrbo or Airbnb. And if a home has separate living quarters, it must be attached to the structure.
Mayor Glenn Broska said he is concerned about people using hotels for long-term rentals. He acknowledged that sometimes people do this for legitimate reasons, such as needing a place to stay while a home is being rebuilt after a fire. However, he said, those people might be better off in the Fairfield Inn, which is licensed for extended stays, or by renting a home or apartment.
"We're going to clean this up," he said. "It's a blight."
Car washes
The new regulation would limit the number of car washes in the city to five. It would not include private car wash events, or car detailing businesses.
Commission member Ted Hurd said he attended the City Council meeting where the study was discussed. At that meeting, he learned that car washes are very difficult to be turned into another use if they close.
"We're going to end up with an atrocity of a building that's not going to be turned into anything else if they close," he said.
Marijuana dispensaries
The proposed regulation would limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in the city to two. The dispensaries must be located in a stand-alone facility and could not be part of a multi-tenant building such as a shopping center.
The city's code now allows for testing facilities to be located in industrial areas, but the proposed language removes those uses from that district. That's because newer regulations from the state allow dispensaries to co-locate with uses such as testing facilities. The city has one testing facility, North Coast Testing Laboratories on Wellman Road.
Cieszkowski predicted that city codes might need to change as the state unveils its regulations for recreational marijuana.
Commission members asked if the requirement that dispensaries be in stand-alone buildings was designed to keep them out of the city. Cieszkowski said the move was related to security.
"The city has the ability to push them out completely," he said.
Portage County opened two dispensaries earlier this year for medical marijuana, Supergood in Ravenna and Bliss Ohio in Kent.
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Streetsboro moves to limit hotels, car washes, marijuana dispensaries
