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DAYTON — The Dayton City Commission approved a zoning change Wednesday that will allow Ken's Kars to relocate from its current address on North Main Street to a property about a block away.

The small used car sales lot, which has been a family business for nearly 60 years, currently operates on a site adjacent to Interstate 75 at 735 N. Main St. That location has to be vacated because of Ohio Department of Transportation plans to rebuild I-75, and owner Ken Smiley Jr. said he wants to move the business to properties with frontage on 800 block of North Main.

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A zoning change, however, prohibited a car lot on Smiley's target site, and the city Plan Board in March voted against Smiley's request to rezone the parcel for his business. The Commission voted four to one Wednesday to change the zoning on Smiley's site to Eclectic General Commercial District.

Commissioner Matt Joseph cast the dissenting vote. He said the city's North Main Street Strategic Plan calls for creating a gateway feature on North Main Street that would provide an appealing entrance to the city's downtown.

"I don't have anything at all against Ken's Kars, but I don't think a used car lot makes a good addition to the idea of a gateway," Joseph said.

He said the strategic plan gives the city a vision for development 10 to 20 years in the future, and he doesn't want to see it altered for the short term benefit of one small business.

Mayor Rhine McLin said she appreciated the work the Plan Board did in developing the Main Street plan, but she said there were extenuating circumstances that made it important to make an exception to the plan in the case of Ken's Kars. "I appreciate small businesses, especially family businesses," McLin said. "They've made a long-term commitment to the city, and they're generating tax revenues and employing about six people there."

McLin said the zoning requirements for the new Ken's Kars site ensures the land will be landscaped and beautified so it doesn't interfere with the proposed gateway area.

In other business

Group asks for support on housing

issue: Nine representatives of the group Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton appeared before the Commission to support their proposal for a "Point of Sale Ordinance" the group said would ensure that homes sold in the city will be habitable.

The ordinance would require that houses be examined by a city inspector before they are sold, and that necessary repairs be made in a reasonable time.

Members of the Greater Dayton Real Estate Investors Association appeared before the Commission last week to lobby against the proposal saying it would hurt redevelopment in the city by making it more expensive and more complicated to sell homes.

Advocates of the proposed ordinance asked that the Commissioners present the ordinance to the city law department so it could be prepared for passage. The Commissioners took no action but pointed out that regulations and city programs already exist that accomplish much of what the proposed ordinance would do.