Troy's Planning Commission Gets First Crack at New Code
Vol. IV, No. 30 - Future Work Sessions Are In Store for the City's New Development Regulations
Last week, the Troy Planning Commission held their first of what could a number of discussions on the city’s new proposed Unified Development Code. The meeting was highlighted by a presentation from representatives of American Structurepoint, the consulting firm that not only helped create this code, but also has helped with other city projects, such as the recently adopted Parks Master Plan and the City’s last Comprehensive Plan.
It’s important to note that Troy’s draft Unified Development Code is not just a cleanup job of the old code. It’s literally a brand new code from scratch and more importantly it serves as a policy document, and the June 18 Planning Commission work session made that plain: city leaders are trying to simplify the rules, tighten the city’s posture against certain vice-oriented uses, and draw a clearer line between legitimate family entertainment and gambling-style operations.
On the surface, the rewrite is easy to describe. The city is moving from 20 zoning districts to 14 and reducing 220 separate use types down to 86, a change meant to make the code easier to read, easier to enforce, and less vulnerable to contradictory interpretations. Consultants explained that part of the problem with the old code is that it treated similar businesses as if they were radically different, even when they function in nearly identical ways. If a florist, a gift shop, a hobby shop, and a leather goods store all generate the same kind of traffic and the same basic commercial activity, then a modern code should stop regulating them as though they belong in entirely different worlds.
That simplification is real, and it is needed. But the more revealing part of the draft is not the streamlining. It is a clear effort to prohibit a series of uses that officials apparently do not want in Troy at all. The transmittal memo identifies a dozen prohibited uses, including adult-use cannabis operators, casino gaming centers, tattoo parlors, commercial truck parking lots, manufactured home parks, skill-based amusement centers, and commercial solar and wind systems.
That list tells residents something important. Troy is not merely modernizing old zoning language. It is using this rewrite to make a values-based decision about the kinds of businesses and land uses it believes do not fit the community. Whether residents agree with every item on that list is a separate question, but the city’s intent is hard to miss.
The June 18 discussion also showed why work sessions matter. Two commissioners in particular helped sharpen the conversation and forced staff to clarify where the draft still needs work. Commissioner Jordan Emerick raised a pointed concern about data centers, noting that the draft’s standards looked comparatively thin and asking whether stronger provisions, including decommissioning-related requirements, should be considered. That was a worthwhile question because the transmittal memo itself acknowledges data centers are a new use category in the code, meaning Troy is still writing the rules in an area where the policy stakes are high and the long-term impacts can be significant.
Commissioner Larry Wolke did something equally useful on a different front. He asked staff directly what “skill-based amusement centers” actually are. That question forced a clarification that the public badly needed.
Without that exchange, many readers could reasonably assume the city was trying to prohibit ordinary family arcades. But staff explained that the term is aimed at gambling-adjacent operations — the kind of small-scale, casino-like setups that rely on games of chance or skill-based cash-style rewards — not kid-oriented amusement venues. Staff went further and specifically distinguished those operations from a Chuck E. Cheese-style business or coin-operated amusement center, which would fall under a different category.
That distinction matters because words in zoning codes have consequences. If the city wants to keep out gambling influences, it needs language that is precise enough to target those operations without accidentally sweeping in legitimate family entertainment. Wolke’s question helped force that precision into the open, and Emerick’s questions on data centers helped show where the draft still may need stronger guardrails before it is ready for adoption.
That is what good commission work looks like. Not grandstanding. Not rubber-stamping. Asking direct questions, exposing weak spots, and making the next draft better. If Troy is going to undertake a full rewrite of its development code, residents should want more of that, not less.
This is what it looks like when residents stay informed. If you find value in this work, share it with a neighbor, a colleague, or anyone who cares about this community. Paid subscriptions keep it going — $5 a month.
This Month, we are doing something different! We are partnering with the Troy-Miami County Public Library by using this platform to raise funds for the Dolly Partin Imagination Library locally here in Miami County! Through the Dolly Partin Imagination Library, children from birth to Kindergarten, can get a book delivered every month to their home at no cost.
And while Dolly is a huge help, she picks out the stories and she works with the publishers, there is still a local cost to the program. Your donations through our “Buy Me A Coffee Page” will help get these youngsters on the right track to a life-long love of reading!
Thanks to John And Kim, Rachelle. Loraine S., Loraine W., and a special anonymous donor, for your recent donations to this effort. So far this month — 71 books have been purchased! Thank you!