ONTARIO — The city of Ontario’s planning commission heard from three separate developers at Wednesday’s meeting looking to bring new business to Ontario.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Dan Niss attended the meeting with his attorney, Bud Vetter, asking for a rezone for the 1943 Park Ave. West property from office service to business.
Vetter said the property was zoned as office service, but the business zone offers more opportunities for development.
“There’s not a huge demand for office service in this community,” Vetter said. “Business seems to make a lot of sense and it’s going to free that up for Dan to get some good things in there.”
Commission chair Jill Knight said she was wary of approving a rezone without knowing what type of business would be on the property, but law director Andrew Medwid noted there were businesses across the street.
Niss, who owns Niss Aviation, said the 17-acre property has some opportunity for innovation and technology projects, as well as new jobs.
“We have an airport in our community and an elite country club,” Niss said. “That can bring a lot of good business and connections, and that’s where ideas start.”
Ontario City Council will host a public hearing on Aug. 16 for the Park Ave. West property to hear from stakeholders and the public on what they would like to see. The building has been unfinished since 2008.
Car wash off Walker Lake Road
Ultimate Shine Car Wash presented sketches to the planning commission on Wednesday that include a 136-foot wash tunnel and indoor vacuum spaces protected from snow and rain.
The car wash will be built near the Menards and Furniture Row parking lot on about 1.5 acres.
Rob Sweet presented designs on behalf of Wild Partners, which operates Ultimate Shine Car washes.
“It’s a unique style, what we would consider an under-roof car wash,” Sweet said. “What that consists of is a 14,500-square-foot building, wash tunnel on the inside and an enclosed vacuum area.
“You’re protected from the elements and everything will be internal. The majority of the building’s around 30 feet tall, and there are fans in there and an exhaust system that pull carbon out of the air.”
Sweet said the car wash will have four to six people working at peak hours. The car wash is expected to use 15,000 gallons of water on an average day, but Sweet estimated 80% of the water is recycled through reclaim tanks.
Sweet said there are only a few other Ultimate Shine Car washes in Ohio. The developer will coordinate with the city of Ontario to ensure it can connect to sewer lines in the construction process.
Home2 Suites hotel off Walker Lake Road designs approved
Chris Knapton, director of development administration for Moment Development, presented a final review for the hotel on the planned unit development zone on Walker Lake Road.
At last month’s planning commission meeting, Knapton said Moment Development wanted to construct the 120-room Home2 Suites hotel with stucco exterior walls on the three upper levels and stone on the first level.
“Stone is a lot more durable than EIFS (stucco),” he said. “After it gets hit a couple of times, you get holes and then we have to patch it and it wouldn’t look very attractive.”
Planning commission approved the hotel’s plans contingent on stone exterior walls for the first floor construction.
Knapton said the hotel will be built jointly with parking for the hotel and proposed retail spaces. Moment Development plans to start hotel construction in September.
The other proposed developments on the six-acre property include residential housing, retail shops and office space. Moment Development will have to present designs separately for those developments to the planning commission.
Planning commission members also discussed a zoning overlay that would benefit light manufacturing and bioengineering businesses, including Oxyrase and high-tech research.
Zoning Inspector Michael Morton said this overlay would utilize the city’s existing zoning districts to open opportunities for “low impact use of properties,” like technology research and assembly. The Richland County Regional Planning Commission will review the proposed overlay before the city implements it.
Also in Wednesday’s meeting:
— Mayor Randy Hutchinson thanked former planning commission members Susan Hellinger and Mick Motley for their respective seven and 11 years on planning commission. They each received certificates of achievement.
— The commission tabled a rezone application from Craig Donley requesting an R-3 residential zone on Lexington-Springmill Road for a property zoned R-2. The R-3 zone allows for high density residential construction like apartment buildings and multi-family homes.
— Morton suggested planning commission send two proposed code changes to City Council. The changes would add off-street parking requirements for motor vehicle sale and service businesses, and allow gravel driveways for single-family dwellings without curb and gutter or sidewalks present.
