ONTARIO — A handful of residents cheered and applauded Wednesday night after Ontario City Council voted down a proposed change to the city’s zoning code.
Two ordinances up for consideration would have updated the city code to allow mini warehouses, also known as storage units, to be permitted use on conditional use in Ontario’s business districts.
Council voted down both measures unanimously.
The ordinances were under consideration at the request of a property owner, Troy Nash, who wanted to put mini warehouses on his three-acre property at the corner of Rock Road and West Fourth Street.
The city planning commission recommended against changing the zoning code.
Several residents of Hemlock Place, a cul-de-sac just south of Nash’s property, also attended planning commission and council meetings to voice their opposition to the change.
Nash, who was not in attendance Wednesday, attended prior planning commission and council meetings to make his case, occasionally engaging in heated back-and-forth dialogue with Hemlock Road residents.
Nash told council he purchased the land two years ago after consulting with an employee in the Ontario city engineer’s office who told him he could build storage units there.
Council president Eddie Gallo said city legislators weren’t aware of Nash’s plans when council updated the zoning code to exclude mini warehouses from business districts in March.
According to Gallo, the change was a recommendation that came out of Ontario’s comprehensive plan.
“I do have some empathy with you that you bought the property based on (that employee’s) statements to you at the time, and they were right at the time,” Gallo told Nash in June.
“But as the city, we have to have the right to make changes to zoning, amendments to resolutions, in order to move the city forward,” Gallo said.
Hemlock Road resident: ‘We’re just glad it’s over’
Michael Moody said after he and his neighbors contested the proposal zoning changes at a planning commission meeting, Nash placed a water tank with the letters “GFY” spray painted on it on the lot, pointed towards Hemlock Road.
“It was never personal for us,” Moody said. “I think the landowner of that three acres took it very personally … We’re all just glad it’s over.”
Gallo said when a member of the public is asking for a variance or change to zoning code, it’s up to that person to demonstrate two things. One is that the proposal is in the best interest of the city. The other is that the landowner will be “a good business partner” with the city.
“In order for us to go against what we established as the new zoning, it would have to have been compelling on both of those points,” Gallo said. “The result tonight showed that (council) was not compelled to believe either of those.”
Gallo thanked the members of the public who took time to share their opinions on the issue.
“It is always the most difficult thing for (council) to deal with is conflicting interests on property rights,” he said. “Thank you again for your time coming out to be part of the process.”