Do you have 18,000 square feet of property for Tire Sales?

[Mario]

The city of Akron Ohio is proposing zoning changes that will force new tire businesses to have 18,000 square feet of property and to be 100 feet off the road if they want to sell, mount, and balance tires. Akron is not NYC, but still a decent sized city (around 200,000) with a lot of suburbs and close proximity to other cities (Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Canton). It is hard to find a lot available in city limits that is 18k square feet.

 

My business is 30 minutes southwest of Akron and I have a 60x105ft parking lot, a 2400 square foot shop and a separate 550 square foot office/waiting room in front. Still less than 10,000 square feet and my property is considered a good size for the area. Most chain tire shops don't have 18,000 square feet of property. The only ones with property that big are the dealerships.

 

I usually don't put my tin foil hat on, but I told my dad today that I believe somebody with a new car dealership may be asking for favors from city officials to help increase their tire sales by limiting their competition. Northeast Ohio has a lot of small tire shops and they all seem to stick around for years and stay relatively busy.

 

The city my business is in has a lot of on the book rules that make it hard to operate a new auto repair facility. You have to be in an industrial area which limits you to almost no drive by traffic. I am grandfathered into my current location. I wonder if cities and townships in the area will mimic these proposed zoning changes.

If something like this passes there are still a lot of questions. What defines a tire shop? Is a repair facility that sells and services tires considered a tire shop?

 

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/akron-may-change-zoning-for-tire-sales-businesses-aiming-to-curb-complaints-council-honors-naacp-president-1.557851

[bstewart]

"Council held two public hearings on the legislation Monday, with no one speaking either for or against it. Council didn’t take action. Fusco said he wanted to give council members more time to review it."

 

So... Not a single resident showed up to complain about tire shops BUT at the same time not a single small tire shop owner showed up to defend themselves...

It sounds to me like the city should just enforce litter and noise laws a little more, rather then making some heavy handed law like this.