BOARDMAN — The township’s zoning commission took the next step in changing parking standards in Boardman.

At Tuesday’s monthly meeting, Zoning Inspector TJ Keiran presented the board with a proposal to give the township more administrative authority to approve parking specifications for incoming businesses.

The board approved the proposal and sent it to township trustees for a first reading at Monday’s regular meeting.

“It’s very exciting how this is going to work, because there are a number of times when you’re just stonewalled, you can’t do anything,” said zoning commission member Dan Durkin. “This gives you some good variances. At least this way you have some guidelines and you can do more.”

Rather than imposing required standards, which were set based on national norms for cities that have more infrastructure for mass transit, the township’s parking standards will be based on recommendations that allow developers to show the township what they actually need.

The basic nature of the plan gives developers a kind of menu. If they meet the recommendation or propose up to 50% more than that or 25% less, as long as they can show the reason for that variation in the number of parking spaces, Keiran’s office can approve it administratively, saving the developer an expensive and time-consuming process through the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Alternative parking plans of up to 100 of the recommended parking spaces would require approval by the architectural review board. Anything surpassing that benchmark would require a variance request through the BZA.

Keiran said that the proposal is based on what the BZA has approved previously for variances.

“What we did, we’ve looked at all the variances that were issued by BZA and we looked at aerial photos and recently approved plans, so the information we’re presenting to you is not based on the national standards — that are not very well founded in my opinion — but they’re based on local conditions for approved projects,” he said.

Keiran gave multiple examples of how current zoning codes on parking have failed the township.

At the former Georgetown banquet center, now called The Room, Keiran said a bank intends to open a main branch in that lot. There are about 1,200 spaces there. The bank would keep normal banking hours while The Room operates at night and on weekends, making sharing of parking spaces optimal. But under Boardman’s existing code, Keiran cannot approve shared parking.

In another case, he said, a manufacturer wants to open a 20,000-square-foot food processing plant. The township’s zoning code, as applied to manufacturing, warehousing and storage, allows for one space per 1,000 square feet. That would give that business 20 spaces. But Keiran said the manufacturer will have 100 employees working at any given time — three shifts, with the next shift’s arrival overlapping the previous shift’s quitting time.

“Another thing they’ve told us is that their financial institution will not allow them to go for a variance,” he said.

Keiran said the standards for warehouse and storage space obviously do not apply to manufacturing and the code needs to reflect that.

Taco Bell, he said, is moving into the former Handel’s location on South Avenue, building a 2,000-square-foot building. The township’s standard is 18 spaces for a fast food business of that size.

“They want 27. Their engineer says this is Taco Bell’s model, this is what they do all across the nation,” he said. “Under the new regulations they would be able to present that and prove that’s Taco Bell’s standard and we’d be able to approve it administratively. As it is, they don’t want to wait for this to be updated. So they are putting money on the table and going to the BZA in a couple weeks.”

Keiran said the manual that is commonly used to determine parking spaces is limited in its usefulness.

“You can see there’s a caution on it, to use it carefully because it has a low reliability. That’s the very author of the report saying that,” he said.

Keiran said the proposal also will eliminate the maximum parking standard, which was 25% above the established minimum.

“That was done to control stormwater, and we don’t really need it anymore. We have excellent stormwater regulations now,” he said.

Keiran said the new regulations are not intended to give the store away.

“They’re not getting a free pass on anything, they’re still going to be meeting our development standards. In fact, I honestly believe it would be more difficult for any developer to ask to have a stormwater or landscape or open space waived, because we’re telling them we’re willing to work with them on the parking requirements,” he said. “If you can’t meet all of the development standards, then that site is too small for you.”

He said, if anything, the township’s standards will be more easily enforced and arguably more rigorous.

“This effort has been presented as if we’re making it easier, and I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. I think we’re streamlining it, but we’re also setting some very tight parameters, and we’re going to be telling the BZA don’t give them any variances on landscaping, open space or stormwater, keep it tight.”

Other changes include eliminating the landscaped island requirement around light fixtures, which Keiran said does little to achieve desired landscaping standards and only causes trouble for snow plows.

The board unanimously approved the proposal.

“There were people that walked away from trying to do something in Boardman,” said board member Michael Fagan. “This gives them flexibility. Just come up with something that will work for you and works for us.”