City commissioners, residents hope change in zoning will help revitalize section of West Pickard Street

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Local residents who hope to refurbish an area of northern Mount Pleasant showed in numbers on Monday with increased attendance at the City Commission’s regular meeting to support a local yoga studio’s effort to expand.

About 35 people were in attendance, as commissioners took public comment over whether to approve a change in zoning that would allow downtown’s OmBodies Yoga Studio and Boutique to relocate a few blocks north at 210 W. Pickard St.

Ashley Stevenson Duffy, a yoga instructor at OmBodies and owner of InnerLight, LLC, told commissioners expanding the business was a “sensible move.”

“Being that it’s not downtown has maybe its pros and cons,” she said. “But the exciting thing is what I envision for that area on Pickard – that it is going to expand. It is going to change and evolve and liven that part of town in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time.”

The cohort of West Pickard Street has historically been zoned for industrial businesses and was formerly home to the Chippewa Beverage Company.

Otterbine’s wife, Heather, owns OmBodies, located currently at 126 S. Main St. In a letter to Mayor Bruce Kilmer, who was not present at Monday’s meeting, she cited OmBodies’ recent growth – nearly 500 clients in two and a half years – as reason for needing to seek a larger space.

Other speakers also urged city officials to support all local small businesses, including those not located downtown.

Commissioner Jon Joslin said he had gotten the impression that community members do not think officials support businesses outside of downtown, and that OmBodies’ expansion would reflect positively.

“Yeah, we do sometimes focus a lot on downtown,” he said, “but it isn’t our entire focus.”

Commissioners approved the re-designation of the zoning from industrial to commercial purposes — a decision that was met with applause from meeting attendees.

However, the decision to rezone spurred some discussion about other areas of Pickard that could use revitalizing and how to go about it.

Commissioner Jim Holton suggested they take a look at changing the city’s zoning map to include a “mixed-use” classification to encourage this sort of development in the future.

Commissioner Sharon Tilmann said she was excited by the idea of seeing the region evolve.

“If you come through downtown, the storefronts will be eye-catching and kind of inviting,” said Tilmann. “Nothing against industrial (areas) — it’s not very inviting.”

Watch cm-life.com for more news from Monday’s City Commission meeting.