ELKINS — Elkins City Council will hold a public hearing on a proposed city zoning update at 1 p.m. today at City Hall.

In June, the Elkins Planning Commission presented council with the proposed update after seven years of work. Council accepted written comments about the proposed zoning ordinance through July 15.

Along with today’s daytime public hearing, Elkins City Council will also hold an evening public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday. That meeting will be followed immediately by an Elkins City Council meeting, during which the ordinance is scheduled for a first reading and vote. The second and final reading before council is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 18.

Since 2015, the Planning Commission has held about 50 noticed, public meetings on the proposed zoning update, officials said, along with three open houses to collect public input, in January and September 2018 and December 2021.

Elkins zoning laws were first approved in the 1950s and have not been significantly updated since the 1970s. Starting in 2016, the Elkins Planning Commission, with the assistance of the WVU Land Use Law Clinic, has been working to update the city’s zoning laws. Elkins is one of 20 West Virginia communities that clinic staffers are currently assisting with zoning ordinances at no cost.

Legally operated businesses and rental units would be “grandfathered” under the new law, a City of Elkins press release states. This means that, even if the type of business or style of residence conflicted with those allowed in a particular zone under the new law, these “non-conforming uses” would be allowed to continue, even if the property is sold, unless abandoned for a year or longer. The proposed ordinance includes no design or historic-preservation requirements.

Under the process stipulated by state law, planning commissions proposing new zoning ordinances must do by creating a document referred to as a Study and Report on Zoning. This document includes analysis of current conditions and an explanation of why changes to zoning laws are needed. The report then includes two appendices, one containing the proposed new ordinance and one containing the proposed new zoning map.

For more information and to download the Study and Report on Zoning (including the proposed zoning ordinance and map), visit: www.cityofelkinswv.com/zoning-update.