Troy's Planning Commission To Talk Code Concerns
Vol. IV, No. 78 - The Planning Commission will review comments from last month's Public Input session
Over the past couple of months, Troy’s proposed Unified Development Code has generated more public attention than a zoning rewrite normally receives. Residents have shown up to meeting and ask questions, it’s been a healthy exercise in civic engagements.
And it’s important. The code will shape how and where Troy grows, what kinds of businesses can locate here, how housing is built and how residents participate when major development proposals arrive. At its July public-input session, residents raised direct questions about data centers, housing, tattoo studios, marijuana dispensaries, gas stations and the predictability of the development-review process.
In a new memo to the Planning Commission, city staff has now responded. The most consequential change is clear: staff is recommending stronger, mandatory review standards for any future data center proposal.
That is a response worth noting.
Data centers receive new safeguards
Public concern about data centers dominated the July public input session. Residents and elected officials questioned whether Troy should prohibit them entirely, adopt a moratorium, preserve industrial acreage for more job-intensive uses, and require meaningful public review before a project can proceed.
The city’s answer is not a ban or moratorium. Staff argues that a total prohibition would be shortsighted, but it also recommends placing data centers into the Planned Development process rather than allowing them as a use by right.
That distinction matters. A Planned Development must come forward as a specific proposal for review, not simply meet a checklist and receive an administrative approval. Staff’s recommended revisions would require a public hearing, an environmental-impact recommendation from the city engineer, an energy-mitigation plan and noise limits at or below the city’s residential standards.
The environmental review would specifically address water and sewer supply and treatment, stormwater mitigation and other potential impacts identified during review.
These are stronger protections than the draft initially offered, particularly the requirement for a public hearing at the Planning Commission level. At the July meeting, residents repeatedly objected to language suggesting the commission “may” hold a hearing. The staff memo directly responds by recommending that the hearing be required.
Still, this is not the final word on data centers. The central public-policy question remains: should Troy reserve its limited industrial land for businesses that produce more jobs, or should it retain the option to consider data centers under demanding conditions? The UDC can establish the process, but elected officials must still decide the city’s economic-development priorities.
Modernizing some business rules
The memo also recognizes that Troy’s current approach to tattoo businesses is outdated.
Under the existing code, tattoo parlors are confined to manufacturing districts. The proposed UDC would allow a tattoo studio as an accessory use to a barber or beauty shop in certain commercial areas. More importantly, staff has replaced the phrase “tattoo parlor” with “tattoo studio,” a modest but appropriate modernization.
Staff is not yet recommending fully independent tattoo studios across commercial districts. Instead, it gives the Planning Commission several options: allow them in General Commercial areas, limit the number of studios, prohibit them downtown, or require separation between locations.
That is a useful framework, but the commission should avoid solving a non-problem with arbitrary caps. Tattooing is a legal, regulated profession. Troy should set reasonable location and operating standards, then allow legitimate businesses to compete.
On marijuana dispensaries, staff’s response is more limited. The UDC continues the city’s existing prohibition on adult-use cannabis operators, adopted by City Council in 2025. Staff notes that state licensing limits make a Troy dispensary unlikely. But that answer does not resolve the broader consistency question raised by residents: whether Troy’s retail rules reflect a coherent public-health and land-use policy.
Housing and clearer rules
The city’s response on housing deserves attention as well. The proposed code would expressly allow accessory dwelling units and micro-units in applicable districts, reduce residential districts from seven to four, remove some outdated dimensional constraints and support “missing middle” housing.
Those changes will not, by themselves, make housing affordable. But they can make infill, redevelopment and smaller housing options more feasible than under the current code.
Staff also clarified an important distinction: the code does not prohibit modular homes built to Ohio Building Code standards on permanent foundations. It continues to restrict manufactured homes, which are governed by separate federal construction standards and typically retain a chassis-based design.
Moving Forward
The revision memo shows that public input has had an effect. City staff listened most visibly on data-center review and has offered clearer explanations on housing, business uses and the purpose of the new code.
Now the Planning Commission and City Council must do the harder work: decide where stronger standards are enough, where the city needs firm policy choices, and whether the code truly gives residents a reliable voice before major development decisions are made.
The Planning Commission will meet on Thursday, August 13th at 3:30 p.m. in the City Building to discuss these comments along with other items of business.
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