Council weighs limiting residential uses in Light Industrial zones after map review

Kevin Eichard (speaker 5) presented a map showing the town's Light Industrial parcels and told council the Planning Commission asked staff to consider restricting residential uses in that zone. He identified a small set of parcels—Crown Apartments (under construction on Buck Island Road), RSI property, Ferrell Gas, and Burnt Church Distillery—as existing Light Industrial properties where uses vary.

Eichard said, "You can see that, that's permitted by right. That's what the p stands for for single family detached attached, which would be a townhome, and then multifamily, that would be your apartment complex," noting the code currently allows residential types by right in that zone. Councilmembers suggested that to prevent large multifamily projects town‑wide, staff should also review Neighborhood Core and General Mixed Use districts because those also permit multifamily in some locations. Eichard proposed additional analysis—acreage, parcel counts and potential limits on scale—before bringing formal amendments to council.

Council did not vote on changes; members generally supported further research and potential conditional limits (unit counts, building size) rather than an outright prohibition, and asked staff to return with options.