The Empire Village Council approved amending the village Zoning Ordinance to include new guidelines for temporary outdoor special land use permits.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the council approved 6-0, with member Linda Payment absent, a Zoning Ordinance amendment to allow outdoor events to occur in the village. When the village Planning Commission adopted a new Zoning Ordinance last year, language regulating events such as the Dunegrass and Blues Music Festival and Anchor Days was left out.

Under the new language, which goes into effect seven days after publication, uses such as seasonal item sales like Christmas trees and pumpkins for Halloween would be allowed in all of the village’s zoning districts. The time limit for a use with that type of permit is 45 days.

Estimated crowd size would be the determining factor for when an event would have to meet more stringent criteria for the issuance of a temporary use permit. For an event in which 750 people or fewer are expected, the village Zoning Administrator may review the application and issue or deny the permit. If the event is expected to attract 751 or more, the applicant must undergo site plan review and approval by the village Planning Commission.

Village resident Eric Arnold voiced his concerns with the zoning ordinance amendment during public comment prior to the council’s consideration. His chief concerns were with allowing temporary outdoor uses in all zoning districts, including residential areas where a large outdoor event could clash with an area made up primarily of single family residences.

“This runs afoul of the village Master Plan,” he said. Arnold said the village should require a more defined list of uses allowed in which zoning districts.

Arnold also said having the Zoning Administrator have the final say on permits for events of 750 people or less is disconcerting. He said he has no problem with the village’s current zoning administrator, Hal Pendleton, but is concerned about who may be hired in the future. He said final authority for those kinds of permits should rest with a legislative body.

Karen Baja, the council’s representative on the Planning Commission, said commissioners were confident the zoning amendment was not in conflict with the Master Plan and had been reviewed by village attorney Richard Figura.

“Mr. Figura has been involved with this process since we started,” she said. Baja said the village did not want to be onerous on small scale activities.

“We are a one square-mile sized village. This is Empire and people here don’t want a lot of rules and regulations. We do need some to keep things in line, though,” she said.

Council president Susan Carpenter said the new language allows the Zoning Administrator to bring an application to the Planning Commission. “It’s not required, but the language is there if he chooses to do so,” she said.

She also addressed one of Arnold’s concerns by saying while the temporary land use permit does allow different uses in all Zoning districts, the key word in the amendment is “temporary.”

“You have to remember these uses are only temporary, they are not permanent,” she said.