Village farming, food trucks and zoning changes took center stage at Antwerp Village Council meeting

Councilman Bryce Steiner raised several concerns during Monday night’s Antwerp Village Council meeting. Steiner wanted council to look at regulating food trucks and legalizing composting and small farm animals, such as chickens and rabbits, within the village.

In referencing food trucks, Steiner commented, “I want to make sure that food trucks coming in don’t have an unfair advantage over local brick-and-mortar restaurants.”

Councilman Dean Rister responded that it’s “not our duty or responsibility to regulate business,” and that the last council spent significant time on how to handle food trucks in the village, but ultimately decided not to regulate them.

Village administrator Brian Davis mentioned that the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce expressed some concern about the trucks.

Fiscal officer Aimee Lichty said that if food trucks are meeting the requirements for tax withholding than the food trucks need to be paying taxes.

Ultimately, no action was taken regarding the topic.

Citing current food shortages and concerns about the amount of fertilizer imported from Russia, Steiner also proposed to allow for small livestock like chicken or rabbits within the village limits and to legalize composting.

Council member Steve Jordan mentioned he had “had a couple people ask about chickens.”

Village zoning inspector Gabe Oberlin stated, “chickens would be agriculture, and we have agricultural zones. It would need to go before the planning and zoning commission.” Mayor Jan Reeb said there wasn’t enough interest from council to move forward, and no action came from the discussion.

Oberlin updated council on proposed changes to the downtown business district’s zoning. 52 properties in the district are set to change from Business 1 to Business 2. The principal difference is that Business 2 allows for residential opportunities. Two other properties are proposed to be changed to Residential 2. Given the number of apartments above buildings, the changes would bring those properties into compliance. A public zoning hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m.

Antwerp wants residents to sign up for its IRIS alert system, and in order to promote sign-ups, anyone who signs up between now and April 18 will be eligible to win $25 worth of Chamber bucks. Everyone who has already registered is also eligible to win; however, council said elected officials are ineligible for the prize. The drawing will take place at the April 18 council meeting.

Council also passed an emergency resolution for the Railroad Street project. The resolution was necessary, so that the village could apply for CBDG grants from the County Commissioners. If approved, Antwerp would receive up to $75,000 of the $127,000 cost, with the village responsible for the remaining $57,000.

In legislative news, council approved several items. First, an ordinance was passed turning delinquent debt from EMS services over to the Ohio Attorney General office for collections. It also approved a transfer to the Severance Pay Fund, approved a continuing agreement with Real Waste, a street light transfer, and approved placing a tax levy renewal on the ballot that supports fire and EMS services in the village.

Council also held second readings on resolutions to provide Crane EMS, Harrison EMS, Carryall EMS, and Harrison Fire Department with services.

In other news, Davis reported that the village purchased a new dump track at a cost of $39,350. The administrator also reported that Real Waste did not raise rates, but expects rate increases to happen in the future.

UPDATE: In the March 23, 2022 article, “Farming, food trucks, and zoning changes take center state at Antwerp Council meeting,” the Paulding Progress incorrectly described proposed changes to the zoning ordinances. Village zoning inspector Gabe Oberlin offered the following clarifications:

Upper floor dwelling units are permitted in the B-1 district, however single family, two family and three or more family dwelling units are not. There are multiple single-family homes located in the B-1 district that have essentially been non-conformities since the original passage of the Village of Antwerp zoning ordinance in 1976. This has caused issues for home owners in the B-1 district.

The B-2 district was amended on December 21, 2021 to add residential to the permitted uses to create a mixed residential/business district. Changing these residential properties from B-1 to B-2 will bring those residential properties into compliance with the ordinance while giving lot owners more flexibility in how they use their property. Two of the residences were physically isolated from the B-2 district, and in order to avoid any spot zoning issues, the Planning and Zoning Commission decided to change their classification to R-2 to match the other properties in the adjacent district.

The Progress regrets the error and appreciates the village offer clarification on the issue.