(A) Purpose. The General Commercial District (GC) is intended to encourage the concentration of a broad range of individual commercial establishments which together may constitute a cluster of general commercial activity that serves a substantial portion of the village’s residential population. Concentrated general commercial developments should be ideally located near major circulation routes and accessible to the population served.
(B) Permitted uses. Land and buildings in the General Commercial District (GC) shall be used only for the following purposes:
(1) Retail stores. Retail stores primarily engaged in selling merchandise for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of the goods (including the buying or processing of goods for resale) including:
(a) General merchandise: hardware stores, department stores, mail order houses, limited price variety stores, and miscellaneous general merchandise stores;
(b) Food: grocery stores, meat and fish (seafood) markets, fruit stores and vegetable markets, candy, nut, and confectionery stores, dairy products stores, retail bakeries, and miscellaneous food stores;
(c) Building materials, retail: lumber and other building materials, heating and plumbing equipment, electrical supply equipment, and hardware and farm equipment;
(d) Apparel: clothing, accessories and personal furnishing stores, shoe stores, custom tailors, furriers and fur shops, and miscellaneous apparel and accessory stores;
(e) Home furnishings: furniture, home furnishings, and equipment stores, household appliance stores, and radio, television, and music stores;
(f) Eating and drinking places;
(g) Miscellaneous retail: drug stores and proprietary stores, liquor stores, antique stores and secondhand stores, stationery stores, sporting goods stores and bicycle shops, jewelry stores, florists, cigar stores, news dealers, camera and photographic supply stores, gift, novelty, and souvenir shops, optical goods stores, and miscellaneous retail stores not elsewhere classified; and
(h) Business services: advertising, duplicating, addressing, blueprinting, photocopying, mailing, stenography, and business services not elsewhere classified.
(2) Business and professional offices. Business offices engaged in providing tangible and intangible services to the general public, involving both persons and their possessions, including:
(a) Administrative, business, and professional offices: administrative offices primarily engaged in general administration, supervision, purchasing, accounting, and other management functions, and professional offices engaged in providing tangible and intangible services to the general public, involving both persons and possessions, including financial services, real estate, and insurance; and
(b) Professional: offices of physicians and surgeons, dentists and dental surgeons, Osteopathic physicians, chiropractors, medical and dental laboratories, health and allied sciences not elsewhere classified, legal services, design services including engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, graphic arts and interior design, and accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services.
(3) Personal and consumer services. Personal services generally involving the care of the person or his or her personal effects and consumer services generally involving the care and maintenance of tangible property or the provision of intangible services for personal consumption, including:
(a) Personal: photographic studios, including commercial photography, beauty shops, barber shops, laundromats, funeral services, shoe repair shops, pressing, alteration and garment repair, and miscellaneous personal service; and
(b) Repair services: electrical repair shops, watch, clock, and jewelry repair, re-upholstery and furniture repair, and similar household item repair shops and related services.
(4) Sexually oriented businesses. Permitted use by sexually oriented businesses in this district shall comply with the following requirements.
(a) Sexually oriented businesses, as defined by § 153.012 of this chapter, provided the proposed location of such use is more than 1,000 feet from all the following uses:
l. Any residential zoning district, zoning overlay district where residential use is permitted, or residential use as established by the Zoning Code of the village or the Zoning Code of any adjacent political subdivision;
2. Any church, synagogue, permanently established place of worship, school, library, or public playground attended by persons under the age of 18;
3. Any other recreational facility or amusement park attended by persons under 18 years of age;
4. Any hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast lodging establishment;
5. Any other sexually oriented business;
6. Any establishments licensed by the state for the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises;
7. Pawn shops;
8. Pool or billiard halls;
9. Video game or pinball palaces, halls, or arcades; and
10. Any designated historic district.
(b) The measure of distance for purposes of this division (B)(4) shall be from property line to property line along the shortest possible course, regardless of any customary or common route or path of travel.
(c) Approval of sexually oriented business: the Enforcement Officer shall consider only whether the sexually oriented business is seeking to locate in a General Commercial District (GC), and whether the proposed location of the sexually oriented business is at least 1,000 feet from the uses listed in division (B)(4)(a) of this section. The determination shall be made without a public hearing being held and must be made within ten days of the effective date of this chapter or within ten days of the receipt of a completed application for a zoning permit, whichever is less. An applicant or an aggrieved party may appeal a decision of the Enforcement Officer or Planning Commission to the Board of Appeals. Pursuant to law, such appeal must be made within 30 days of the claimed adverse decision. The Board of Appeals shall hear and decide sexually oriented business appeals in accordance with § 153.043 of this chapter. Further appeal shall be to a court of competent jurisdiction as provided by law.
(C) Conditional uses. The following uses may be allowed in the General Commercial District (GC) subject to approval in accordance with § 153.042:
(1) Automotive service stations. Gasoline service stations, provided no portion of a structure or its appurtenances, including ancillary, associated, or auxiliary equipment, shall be located in front of the established building line;
(2) Drive-in facility or open display. Drive-in or outdoor service, or open display facility, developed in association with a principal permitted use;
(3) Residential. Living quarters as an integral part of and subordinate to a principal permitted use;
(4) Automobile service stations, repair services, and garages. Gasoline service stations, provided no portion of a structure or its appurtenances, including ancillary, associated, or auxiliary equipment, shall be located in front of the established building line;
(5) Recreation. Theaters, dance halls, dance studios, dance schools, bowling, swimming pools, and skating rinks;
(6) Hotels and motels. Lodging facilities and subordinate eating and drinking facilities and recreational facilities, provided that the minimum lot area is two acres;
(7) Animal care. Offices of veterinarians and animal hospitals;
(8) Commercial kennel. Commercial kennels shall not be located within 200 feet of a residential zoning district, including PUD and PRD;
(9) Automobile parking. An automobile parking lot as a principal use;
(10) Significant developments. Any proposed structure in the General Commercial District (GC) that contains at least 50,000 square foot of gross floor area shall be considered a significant development and may be allowed subject to approval in accordance with § 153.042; and
(11) Places of worship. Churches and other similar places of worship and parish houses.
(D) Development standards.
(1) Lot and building requirements. The following lot and building requirements are minimum standards, except where noted, and shall apply in the General Commercial District (GC):
(a) Lot area: no minimum lot area is required, however, all lots shall abut an improved public right-of-way and lot area shall be adequate to provide the required yard space;
(b) Lot coverage (maximum): no maximum lot coverage is required; however, the lot coverage shall be adequate to provide the yard space required;
(c) Lot width: no minimum lot width is required; however, all lots shall abut an improved public right-of-way and have adequate width to provide the required yard space and meet minimum access requirements;
(d) Front yard setback: the minimum front yard setback shall be the average of the existing adjacent commercial structures on the same side of the street and facing thereon within the same block. Where there are no adjacent commercial structures, the building line shall not be less than 50 feet measured from the street right-of-way;
(e) Side yard setback: for main and accessory structures, including open service and loading areas, the required side yard shall be not less than 20 feet, unless adjacent to any residential zoning district, Planned Residential District, and Planned Unit District whereby the side yard shall be no less than 50 feet; and
(f) Rear yard setback: for main and accessory structures, the required side yard shall be not less than 25 feet, unless adjacent to any residential zoning district, Planned Residential District, and Planned Unit District whereby the side yard shall be no less than 50 feet. A use to be serviced from the rear shall have a service court, alleyway, or combination thereof not less than 40 feet in width.
(2) Supplemental standards. The following supplemental standards shall apply within the General Commercial District (GC):
(a) No building shall exceed 40 feet in height, nor more than three stories in height; and
(b) Applicable standards shall be met in corresponding provisions of this chapter.
(Ord. 96-152, passed 10-7-1996; Ord. 2001-033, passed 10-1-2001; Ord. 2014-017, passed 7-7-2014)
Cross-reference:
Ground satellite stations, see § 153.198