It appears businesses that want to extend their sales floor beyond the front door could soon be allowed to do so in Oxford Village.

A proposed zoning ordinance amendment regarding outdoor display sales in the C-1 Transition district is headed for the village council, which has the final say.

After discussing the issue for a little over an hour at their Jan. 15 meeting and making a few additional tweaks to the proposed language, planning commissioners voted 6-0 to recommend council approve the amendment.

Outdoor display sales are currently prohibited in the C-1 Transition zoning district, which encompasses everything along Washington St. (M-24) that isn’t in either the core downtown between Ensley and East streets or the Oxford Marketplace shopping center.

Under the proposed amendment, two new definitions would be added to the ordinance.

The first is for an “accessory outdoor display,” which is defined as “the out-of-doors display of some goods by an existing business which is clearly secondary to but directly related with and located upon the primary site of the principal business.”

At a previous meeting, village Planner Mario Ortega, of the Northville-based McKenna Associates, explained that any business could display something outside, under this definition, as a way to attract customers. Examples he gave included Burdick Street Equipment parking riding lawn mowers in its front yard or businesses displaying seasonal items such as bags of salt and mulch.

Accessory outdoor displays would be allowed as a permitted use in C-1 Transition zoning, so no special or temporary use approval would be required.

The second new definition is for “outdoor display sales,” which is “a business whose principal activity is the consistent storage, display or sale of goods that are not located within a fully enclosed building.”

A business would be allowed to engage in this type of sales activity only after obtaining a temporary use permit from the planning commission.

To secure that permit, a business would be required to submit a site plan that depicts the proposed outdoor display area and includes details such as what materials or merchandise would be placed there.

The proposed ordinance regulates the size of the outdoor display area, the lighting requirements and when fencing is needed. It also mandates display areas must be “kept clean and void of litter at all times.”

All permits granted by the planning commission would expire on Dec. 31 of the year they’re approved.

If a business wants additional time, 12-month extensions can be requested.

In a previous draft, in order to be able to request an extension, the planning commission would have to first grant the business the ability to do so as a condition of its original permit approval. Extension requests would then be reviewed and approved or denied by the village manager, who would also have the discretion to refer the matter back to the planning commission.

But Commissioner Jack Curtis suggested changing this by eliminating the planning commission’s role in the extension process and leaving it solely up to the village manager to approve or deny requests unless he chooses to refer them to the board.

“If (a business is) doing everything according to the ordinance, why not allow them to continue through an administrative review?” he said.

“That keeps us out of the loop. They don’t have to come back here asking the same stuff,” Curtis continued.

“That’s certainly more streamlined, isn’t it?” said Commission Chairman Gary Douglas.

Ortega agreed. “I think that actually makes more sense,” he said.

Commissioner Maureen Helmuth, who also serves on the village council, wondered what would happen if a business was granted outdoor sales approval, but then the situation “turns into a disaster.”

“If we don’t like what they’re storing, can we not give them an extension?” she asked.

According to Curtis, if a business was approved to sell “widgets” and then starts selling “whammits,” the village manager could use his discretion to send the extension request to the planning commission for a decision.

“That’s the way I’m reading this,” he said.

Under the proposed amendment, the village manager would have “the authority to temporarily rescind” a permit and require the business to “cease and desist operation of the display” if there’s “any violation of the original site plan approval or any hazardous conditions.”

Originally, it was going to be up to the planning commission to review the violations and/or hazardous conditions and determine what changes needed to be made to rectify the situation and allow operations to resume.

Curtis again recommended removing the planning commission from the equation and leaving the decisions to the village manager.

“We’ve given the village manager the (power) to rescind. Let’s give him the (power) to put (the permit) back in place,” he said.

Douglas asked if business owners disagree with the village manager’s decision to rescind a permit, where would they go to resolve the “conflict.”

Ortega said they would seek “relief” by bringing the matter before the zoning board of appeals for a ruling.

“Not that it’s likely (to happen), but it’s just nice to know that the citizens are protected,” Douglas noted.

Commissioner Rose Bejma wondered if a business that closed for months at a time would be allowed to keep their merchandise outside during those periods of inactivity.

Ortega said they would because “storage” is part of the outdoor display sales definition.

Bejma didn’t like that.

“If their doors are closed and they’re not in operation, I think they should put their stuff in storage, not leave it out in their yard,” she said. “That’s just my opinion.”