CANFIELD — City council approved the rezoned city lots 398 to 407 and 410 to 419 on North Hillside Road from R-1 (residential single family) to R-2 (residential single family).

A public hearing took place prior to the regular meeting and the vote, with one resident wanting more information.

The zone change for the lots goes back to July 14 and Aug. 8 meetings of the planning and zoning board. That board found some lots in that area had the wrong zoning designation. The recommended change would bring those lots to the correct zoning and would continue work on the city’s comprehensive plan.

Mike Cook explained the two designations. He said R-1 and R-2 are both low density residential or single family. The difference is in the size of the lots. Zoning requirements for new construction, or R-1, is considerably larger than most older city lots. The required larger frontage and bigger lot and home size could not apply to the city’s older homes, so R-2 was created to handle the city’s older, smaller frontage lots.

During the public hearing, North Hillside resident Beverly Walters questioned the change.

“Why the change after all these years,” she said. “Is this going to cost me more in taxes?”

City attorney Mark Fortunato told Walters it would not change her property taxes, and he added the zone change actually could benefit homeowners.

Cook gave the example of a resident wanting to build a shed. The R-1 lot would require larger setbacks because of the amount of property. In the R-2 zone, the same shed could have a smaller setback because of the smaller lot size.

Fortunato said the planning and zoning board saw North Hillside as a neighborhood that had different zoning depending on the lot one was looking at. The resolution council approved fixed the zoning in that area.

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com