Stowe's planning committee voted Oct. 9 to advance an application to rezone two properties at 3605 and 3625 Marsh Road from R-2 residential to C-4 general business to the full City Council for a public hearing.

Planning Director William Cowan described the property as two existing 16-unit buildings (about 7,000 square feet each) previously approved in 2011 for an assisted-living use. The comprehensive plan currently designates the site as medium-density residential, but the applicant requests commercial zoning to expand marketing opportunities and allow by-right commercial uses (retail, office, laboratories, personal service and restaurants among others).

Committee members asked whether the applicant intended to pursue a health-care building; Cowan said he had no plans or drawings and had had no substantive conversations about a specific use. Cowan also noted a likely effect of the rezoning: under current C-4 standards the existing buildings would become nonconforming with respect to front-yard setbacks (C-4 requires an 80-foot front setback and the nearest building is about 45 feet), but he identified no other nonconforming uses.

No members of the public attended the committee meeting to object, and the committee approved a motion to place the rezoning request (ordinance 2025-200) on the council agenda for a public hearing. The committee recorded three affirmative votes in favor of forwarding the item.

What happens next: the council will hold a public hearing on the rezoning request on Nov. 6 at 5 p.m., when the full council will consider first, second and third readings required for a zoning map amendment.

"This application is for a rezoning at 3605 and 3625 Marsh Road...the property is currently zoned R2, and they are proposing a rezone to C4," Cowan said during the planning committee presentation. "For reference, this is just south of the Kent and Marsh Road intersection. AutoZone is directly north...and then Stokent Gardens is along the south and east side of the property."