Got an opinion or suggestion regarding the outdoor display of merchandise by Oxford Village businesses? If so, planning commissioners want to hear from you.

Last week, the commission voted 5-0 to schedule a public hearing on the subject for Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.

Commissioners are seeking input regarding a proposed zoning ordinance amendment regarding outdoor display sales in the village’s C-1 Transition district.

The activity is currently prohibited there.

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 falls under C-1 Transition zoning.

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

The first is “outdoor display sales,” which is defined as “a businesses whose principal activity is the consistent storage, display or sale of goods that are not located within a fully enclosed building.”

A business in the C-1 Transition district would be allowed to engage in this type of sales activity only after obtaining a temporary use permit from the planning commission.

To get 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 will be placed there.

The proposed ordinance regulates the size of the outdoor display area, lighting requirements and when fencing is needed. It also mandates that areas 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 granted. However, if a business requests additional time, the planning commission can give it the ability to request an extension from the village manager.

The manager would have the ability to grant a 12-month extension if a business operating an outdoor display area has done so in a way that’s “in keeping with all conditions” of the original approval and the continued use does “not negatively impact existing adjacent land uses.”

Under the proposed ordinance, the village manager would be empowered to shut down an outdoor display area if “hazardous conditions” arise from it.

This part prompted some comments from Chuck Schneider, a local developer and the owner of Unique Stuff, a yard art business located on M-24 in the C-1 Transition district.

Schneider suggested the manager be authorized to shut down any outdoor display area that is not “consistent” with what the planning commission approved. “Forget about hazardous materials. (The business) needs to conform to the site plan,” he said.

Schneider recommended violators be given 30 days to rectify their problems and if they don’t, their permits get revoked.

“You need to give the village manager that authority. He has no authority in the document that you wrote,” he said.

Commission Chairman Gary Douglas agreed with Schneider and suggested such language be added.

“If you don’t play by the rules, this is what’s going to happen – the village manager pulls your permit and in order to get it reinstated, you have to come back and talk to us,” he said.

However, Douglas also believes the language concerning “hazardous conditions” needs to remain in place.

“Public safety is our first and foremost concern and so that has to be there,” he said.

The other proposed addition to the zoning ordinance 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.”

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

“An existing business could place something outside if they so choose,” explained village Planner Mario Ortega, of the Northville-based McKenna Associates. “It’s not their primary thing. It’s just they want to be able to display something (outside) to have greater effect. And so this (language) would allow everyone to do that.”

An example of an accessory outdoor display, according to Ortega, is when Burdick Street Equipment at 43 E. Burdick St. parks riding lawn mowers in its front yard to attract customers.

“They have a large indoor business and they just want to put a couple lawn mowers outside. That’s minimal,” he said.

Other examples include pallets of salt, bags of mulch or other seasonal items.

“It’s (something) ancillary. It’s secondary to the primary business of getting people to come inside (the business),” Ortega said.

In addition to scheduling a public hearing, commissioners voted 5-0 to request the village council extend its moratorium on the enforcement of the outdoor display prohibition in C-1 Transition zoning. The current moratorium, enacted at council’s Sept. 25 meeting, is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2019.