City Council Accepts Report Denying Rezoning Request

Findlay City Council voted to accept the Findlay Planning and Zoning Committee’s report concerning an applicant’s desire to rezone a property from residential to commercial so it could be part of a McDonald’s on the south side of town.

The Findlay Planning and Zoning Committee previously voted to deny the rezoning request and made that recommendation to City Council. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, council voted to accept the report that included the committee’s recommendation.

The Findlay City Planning Commission also previously voted to deny the rezoning request.

The applicant wanted to rezone 119 West McPherson Avenue from residential to commercial.

The Findlay Planning and Zoning Committee voted to deny the request based on strong public opposition to the project because it would expand commercial creep into a residential area and threaten the intended use for the area as laid out in the land-use plan.

A property owner wanted to put a McDonald’s in place of the Fifth Third Bank at the northwest corner of South Main Street and Sixth Street/Lake Cascades Parkway in Findlay.

To make the plan work, they would have had to get a house on West McPherson Avenue that’s behind the bank rezoned to commercial.

Traffic and pedestrian safety concerns were among the biggest issues raised by residents who spoke out against the proposal, and from members of the Findlay Planning and Zoning Committee and Findlay City Planning Commission.