Maumee moves to allow offices on first floors uptown
Posted By: Toledo Blade on September 9, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Maumee residents might soon see more offices uptown.
City council voted unanimously during its regular meeting Tuesday to pass the first reading of an ordinance removing a zoning requirement that uptown ground-floor properties be used for shops rather than offices.
Councilman Gabriel Barrow was absent, and the measure passed 6-0 without discussion.
“Previously, our zoning code did not allow for first-floor offices uptown,” Mayor Chelsea Ziss said. “It was a recent change to create a more walkable uptown, which we are still a hundred percent committed to. But we want more walkable businesses, and this change will allow for professional services and offices once again.”
Josh Hartbarger, city administrator, said the administration’s initiative followed a recent internal study.
“For landlords to be able to lease out their buildings is important, and being able to make sure that businesses can go where they want to go is also important,” Mayor Ziss said.
“We are looking at economic development going forward, and there are more vacancies than we would like,” she continued. “There is also the issue where sometimes buildings uptown are one story, and they were subject to the same provisions of not allowing a first-floor office, so allowing those to come in will at least bring in people to uptown and make sure that there are places available for that.”
Mr. Hartbarger said the planning commission vetted the staff recommendation before it went before council.
“We are returning to the pre-COVID time because community needs have changed with the new economic realities,” he said.
Because the ordinance passed only its first reading Tuesday, it will go through two more readings before a final vote. If passed as a normal measure, it would take effect 30 days later, according to council staff. It also could be tabled or passed as an emergency measure, which would make it effective immediately.
In other business, council on Tuesday passed legislation to increase the number of sewer remediation commission members from three to five, effective in 30 days.
The measure was designed to minimize instances when the commission doesn’t have a quorum, according to city staff.
The purpose is to benefit the appeal process for people who have been denied relief under the sewer remediation program, Mayor Ziss said.
To have their expenses fully reimbursed by the city, residents must complete their sewer repairs within a year of the inspection date.
“Sometimes people miss those deadlines, and they might want to appeal the reason that they miss those deadlines to show some sort of hardship,” Mayor Ziss said.
She noted that the appeals board is a public body of citizens, not elected officials.
« Back to Insights