Taller buildings, four-story hotels and more stores could be coming to Westminster's business parks

Westminster's business parks could soon have taller buildings, hotels up to four stories and a much wider range of stores and services under a zoning change the city council is set to consider tonight.

The Westminster Mayor and Common Council will hold a public hearing Sept. 28, on Ordinance No. 2026-08. It would raise the height limit in the city's planned industrial zone, open that zone to almost any business allowed in the city's commercial districts, including downtown, and make it easier to put day cares, schools and gyms there.

The council could vote the same night. The ordinance is on the 7 p.m. agenda twice: once for the public hearing and again later in the meeting for a vote.

City planning staff recommend approval. So does the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, an appointed board that reviews zoning changes before the council votes. It recommended the change 5-0 on Sept. 17, according to a memo from Mark Depo, the city's director of community planning and development.

This change affects one zone, called P-I, short for Planned Industrial. According to the city code, it is meant to give industrial businesses a "parklike setting," planned as one development of at least 10 acres and free of nuisances such as noise and smells.

According to the ordinance and the staff memo:

Taller buildings. The basic height limit would rise from 20 feet to 30 feet, according to the city's staff memo. As under the current rules, buildings set farther back from the property line could go higher. Hotels, which are already allowed in the zone, could be up to four stories.

Many more kinds of businesses. Right now, stores and services in these parks are limited to a specific list. The change would also allow anything permitted in the city's three main business zones, B Business, C-B Central Business and D-B Downtown Business. The list would also specifically include auto repair shops, convenience stores with gas pumps, pharmacies with drive-throughs and small breweries.

Day cares, schools and gyms get special treatment. Business parks can use up to 30% of their land for stores and other commercial businesses. Day cares and health clubs are already allowed but count toward that 30%, and they are capped at 12,000 square feet. Under the change, day cares, schools, gyms and indoor recreation would be allowed without counting toward the 30% and without the size cap.

Industry must still take up most of the land. At least 55% of a business park's land would have to be used for industrial purposes.

Shop size limit clarified. Each store would still be capped at 6,000 square feet. The change makes clear that a building with several storefronts can hold several stores, as long as each one stays under the limit.

Simpler parking rules. Developers could use a set number of parking spaces based on a building's size instead of calculating it from the number of employees. And when a new business moves into an existing space, it would not need a new parking review unless city officials expect it to need a lot more parking than the business before it.

Some things would be banned. The change would specifically bar these from the business parks:

Many of those, including churches, nightclubs, government buildings, paid parking lots and nursing homes, are allowed in the city's B Business zone, according to the city code. Without the ban list, opening the business parks to business-zone uses would have let them in, too.

The ordinance says the kinds of businesses that want to be in business parks have changed. Companies now look for offices, research space, hotels, schools, gyms and restaurants near where people work. The city says the changes would make room for those businesses while keeping the parks mainly industrial.

This is the third time in about a year the city has loosened the rules for these parks, according to the staff memo.

After the council first introduced the change Aug. 24, the company that owns property in the Carroll County Commerce Center, Corporate Center Leasing LLC, asked the city two questions, according to the staff memo.

Question one: Does banning "public buildings" mean government agencies can no longer rent office space in the park? The city said no. The ban covers only buildings the government owns. Agencies can still rent space from a private landlord, which the zone already allows.

Question two: When a developer's overall plan for a business park sets parking numbers, do those numbers carry over when individual buildings get approved later? The city said yes.

At the Sept. 17 Planning and Zoning hearing, a commissioner asked why the city would ban government-owned buildings at all, and whether it was about tax revenue, since government property generally isn't taxed. Depo said he assumed that was one reason. He said agencies can already rent office space in the parks, and that the zone's main purpose is industry and manufacturing.

At that hearing, the only member of the public who spoke was Kelly Shaffer Miller, an attorney with the Westminster law firm Shaffer & Shaffer, who said she was there for Corporate Center Leasing on behalf of the Commerce Center in favor of the change.

If the council approves the change, it would take effect 10 days later.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1838 Emerald Hill Lane, and streams on the city's YouTube channel. Anyone can speak during the public hearing.