Upper Arlington City Council voted Nov. 8 to allow parking pads in all areas of the city except, for now, the historic district.

Council voted 5-2 to support the option "B" legislation for the pads, which are strips of pavement next to a garage or home to park an additional vehicle to move it off the street.

Council members Ed Seidel and Mary Ann Krauss voted against option "B."

Three versions of the legislation had been proposed, and council had amended all three earlier in the meeting by a 4-3 vote to include the historic district exception until a study could be completed in February about the effects of allowing parking pads in the area. The historic district, known as Old Arlington or the Garden District, is south of Lane Avenue.

Seidel, who proposed the amendment after council received a letter from William and Nancy Eisnaugle about preserving the historic district, voted with Krauss, Wade Steen and Debbie Johnson in favor of the amendment.

"The city went through some legislative turmoil four or five years ago dealing with construction and demolition in the historic district," Seidel said. "We got a letter saying, 'Hey, this might not fit the historic district as well as it does in north Arlington.'"

Council has been weighing three options to allow parking pads in the city since Nugent Drive resident Larry Lance appealed a board of zoning and planning ruling in July to keep a parking pad that he had installed on his property without a permit.

After council rejected Lance's appeal, council asked BZAP to consider amending the city law that limited parking pads.

BZAP considered two options, option "A" and option "B," and ultimately recommended option "A" to council.

The city attorney's office also recommended an option "C," a combination of "A" and "B," to council.

Under option "A" residents would have been allowed to install a parking pad parallel to a current driveway if the site had a one- or two-car attached garage with no access to the back yard or no attached or detached garage.

Seidel, Krauss and Johnson voted in favor of that option.

The approved option "B," which some council members considered the "most permissive," would allow a parking pad with a certificate of zoning compliance if it has a minimum setback from the public right of way, has screening, is parallel to the existing driveway, impervious surface in the front yard does not exceed 25 percent and the parking space does not exceed 250 square feet. Recreational and commercial vehicles also are not allowed to occupy the parking space.

Option "C" would have allowed residents to have a parking pad if both the conditions in "A" and "B" were met.

Seidel was the lone affirmative vote on option "C."

In other council news, members voted 6-1 in favor of giving TechColumbus $100,000 over the next two years to support the organization's Entrepreneurial Signature Program if it receives a matching grant from Ohio's Third Frontier program. David DeCapua voted against the legislation.

Council also unanimously approved an ordinance to grant an economic incentive agreement to Kenexis, an industrial consulting firm focused on safety and the process for improving the petrochemical, pharmaceutical and power generation industries.

"This is a big deal that we are capturing this company in Upper Arlington, and hopefully it will be here for a very, very long time," said council member Erik Yassenoff.