Ontario residents weigh in on proposed zoning code changes

ONTARIO — Ontario resident Craig Hunt said he has spent 25 years fighting like crazy against living in a business district.

“It’s always fighting to maintain what I’ve got,” he said.

Hunt noted multiple frustrations involving fences, overgrown shrubs and glaring lights from a nearby car lot.

He fears proposed zoning changes, particularly the Old Ontario overlay, could create more problems for residents and businesses, rather than solve existing ones.

According to the comprehensive plan, the Old Ontario area covers 131 acres centered on the intersection of Shelby-Ontario Road/Lexington-Ontario Road and Park Avenue West. The planning runs from the current location of the Ontario Senior Center along Park Avenue West, east to Rock Road.

During Wednesday evening’s public hearing at Ontario City Council, he questioned if the city should replace a zoning code refined through decades of amendments.

Hunt questions zoning updates

“I think we’re regressing, you know, 30, 40 years just to get this overlay for Old Ontario,” Hunt said.

Councilman Anderson Roll asked, “So you think that we should keep it the way it is with the problems that we have?”

Hunt replied, “We have no problems.”

Before the public hearing, representatives from Reveille, the firm that helped the city develop its comprehensive plan, presented their proposed changes on the zoning code.

Roll mentioned problems Rachel Bach, Reveille’s principal of community development, said the proposed code would address and asked Hunt whether he considered the changes a regression.

“Maybe out there in our other areas, that might be good ideas for what they want,” Hunt said. “But as far as the overlay on the Old Ontario district, they [the Reveille team] are trying to make something happen that just ain’t going to happen.”

He said Ontario differs from downtown districts in nearby communities and additional design requirements could discourage businesses from locating in Old Ontario.

“Don’t ask somebody from Bellville to bring a hardware store up here and put it beside my house and then compete with all these other stores. Because he ain’t going to make it,” Hunt said.

Reveille proposes updates to Ontario’s zoning code

Glenn Grisdale, Reveille’s principal of planning and economic development, said the zoning update grew out of Ontario’s comprehensive plan, which the city updated in 2024 with input from residents, students and other community members.

The planning process involved three surveys, including a community preferences survey which received about 240 responses. Residents also participated in a planning session focused on Old Ontario.

Grisdale said the comprehensive plan identified a zoning update as a priority. Both the plan and the existing zoning code dated to the 1970s.

“Your zoning code has been outdated through amendment, over the years, where it was repealed,” he said. “It got bulky. It got outdated.”

Proposed revisions would consolidate permitted uses into a single table, update definitions and establish new zoning districts. 

“The goal is to carry over what worked really well in your zoning code and update it in a variety of different areas,” Grisdale said.

Bach said the existing code carried permitted uses from less intensive zoning districts into more intensive ones. As a result, the heaviest industrial district allowed uses permitted in every other district, including residential uses.

The proposed code would separate permitted uses by district to better group compatible development and protect residential neighborhoods from incompatible uses, he said.

A new neighborhood business district would provide a transition between residential areas and more intensive commercial uses, while a public and institutional district would identify publicly owned properties.

The proposal also renames the industrial park zoning as light industrial zoning.

An agricultural district would give Ontario a zoning category for agricultural properties that could enter the city through future annexations. The agricultural district does not appear on the proposed zoning map.

Bach also recommended clarifying rules for agricultural activities on R-1 single-family residential properties. Under the proposed language, agricultural activities would be allowed only on lots of at least three acres.

Part of the proposal includes an Old Ontario overlay district with additional design standards intended to improve walkability and preserve the area’s character. Proposed features include wider sidewalks, pedestrian connections between streets and parks, landscaping and lower-impact signage.

The proposal would also distinguish minor site plans for projects under 5,000 square feet from major site plans for projects exceeding that size.

Proposed zoning changes could ease restrictions on homeowners

At an earlier meeting, council members raised questions about above-ground pool safety, fence placement, renewable-energy facility decommissioning and sidewalk requirements for new development.

Bach said Reveille recommended placing fences adjacent to property lines, but council will make the final decision. The proposed changes remain under review as the code proceeds through three readings, allowing council to request amendments.

Some properties do not meet current zoning requirements for lot size or frontage, Bach said. Frontage refers to the width of a property along the street.

Reveille initially recommended R-2 two-family zoning for parts where existing lots and buildings do not meet current R-1 standards.

(Story continues below. Images show non-conforming properties under the current zoning code.)

After council members raised concerns about permitting additional two-family development, Bach presented R-1A as an alternative allowing smaller lots and narrower street frontages.

She said the alternative would bring more existing properties into compliance with the zoning code while helping preserve the neighborhood’s single-family character.

Under the current rules, owners of properties that do not conform to zoning standards face restrictions on enlarging their properties or making substantial changes.

“Now, if the property were, let’s say, destroyed by fire, they could rebuild, but they would have to rebuild exactly in that same footprint,” Bach said. “This provides a lot more relief to those homeowners.”

(Story continues below. Zoning map draft prepared by Reveille Planning Ltd.)

Resident urges council to consider Ontario’s history

Ontario resident Mary Ann Stotts asked Ontario officials to preserve the city’s history as they plan for the future.

Stotts pointed to a house on Park Avenue West, recently demolished, which was part of housing for an academy where the current No. 1 fire station now sits. The academy served students beyond eighth grade and drew students from across the country.

Stotts said recollections linked the house to two U.S. senators who attended the academy.

She asked council to consider plaques or other ways to recognize historically significant places throughout Ontario.

She referenced an idea attributed to a Wyandotte chief she heard speak. He considers seven generations when making decisions for his people: three generations in the past, the present generation and three generations in the future.

“How can I make it better for them? You have respect for what happens,” Stotts said. “I just want to give that information to you.”