CANFIELD — Since late 2024, Canfield business owner Ken Cerimele has been trying to get zoning officials and city council to allow outside storage and he made the request again at Wednesday’s city council meeting.

Cerimele owns All-In-One Self Storage at 530 W. Main St. He previously received the praise of city officials for cleaning up the property and running good, respectable businesses. The front portion of the building is a day care center.

Over the past year, Cerimele has requested a zone change from B2 to M1, which would permit the storage of boats, campers and trailers not related to the business. It was denied by the city’s planning and zoning commission in October and was turned down by council in November.

“The problem is outside storage is not permitted in a B2 district,” said city attorney Mark Fortunato. “The property cannot be rezoned M1 as it would create spot zoning, which state and local law does not allow.”

The other option Fortunato mentioned involves changing the city’s zoning resolutions to permit outside storage in a B2 district. He said in Cerimele’s case, there is little doubt the outside storage would be neat and presentable. However, he cautioned that other B2 businesses may then want to do outside storage and it might get out of hand or become a nuisance.

“Mr. Cerimele has done a great job with that property, but other business owners may not be as good,” Fortunato said. “My recommendation is for conditional use.”

He said council could consider regulating B2 outside storage with criteria such as being fenced in, have a specific setback and have an acreage requirement. He asked council to give him an idea of what route they wanted to go on the matter.

Fortunato also asked council to look at Airbnbs and other short-term rentals.

“Give me some feedback at the next meeting on which way you want to go,” he said. “We have soft regulations right now that need to be strengthened up.”

In other business, council approved the contract with the Canfield Local School District on school resource officers. The contract has the school district paying $135,120 to provide three officers from Aug. 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

“The city will pay $53,000 and the township will pay a similar amount,” said Canfield City Manager David D’Apolito. “With our agreement, the next step is for the township to approve an agreement.”

D’Apolito also said the city will submit projects for the state’s capital funding grants. He said projects being considered are a playground for the Red Gate Farm property, providing water and sewer service to Red Gate and a waterline improvement project on Fairground Boulevard.

Council also approved entering into a contract with MS Consultants in Youngstown for the engineering and related services to improve 650 feet of waterline going to C.H. Campbell Elementary School. Members also adopted the annual internet auction policy for 2026 for the disposal of unneeded, obsolete or unfit personal property.