The Canton City Commission held an extended discussion on updating the city’s “hard-surface” parking ordinance after the new code enforcement officer began issuing compliance letters.

Staff said the current ordinance (discussed in the meeting as under chapter 11.04) requires parking, loading and maneuvering areas to be hard-surfaced with asphalt or concrete. The code enforcement officer and several commissioners said other nearby towns allow packed gravel or define hard surface more flexibly; enforcement and equity concerns drove much of the discussion.

Residents and commissioners raised several recurring points: older homes in the town core lack paved driveways and may be unable to afford paving; loose, poorly maintained gravel and vehicles left on lawns are enforcement headaches; and narrow alley-access properties complicate paving without affecting neighboring properties. One resident said typical household fundraising yields roughly $10,000–$16,000 annually for community projects and that requiring paving could impose a significant expense on homeowners.

Several commissioners said they would be open to permitting hard-packed gravel as an acceptable surface if the ordinance defines technical standards (weed-free, compacted, defined width) so enforcement can be consistent and non-discriminatory. Commissioners also discussed applying different standards by neighborhood — for example, exempting an older core from new paving requirements while requiring paved driveways for new subdivisions or when a building permit triggers substantial site work.

The commission asked staff to: (1) gather sample ordinance language from comparable towns, (2) map current complaint locations to show whether violations cluster in particular neighborhoods, and (3) draft clear technical standards for any allowable gravel surface (weed-free, compacted, defined width) and proposed boundaries for area-based rules. No ordinance changes were voted at the meeting.