Residential pottery studio seeks approval for overdue permit

KENT — An application for a special permit for a Major Home Occupation regarding an in-residence pottery studio was tabled until February by the Planning and Zoning Commission after a contentious public hearing Jan. 9.

“The arts is one of the main reasons people come here,” said Steve Katz, who represented the applicant, Alison Palmer Studio, along with his wife Alison Palmer. The couple has lived at 48 Stone Fences Lane for 26 years and has had a home studio running for 16 years.

“Twenty-six years and not one complaint,” Katz said during his presentation to the Commission.

The drama began with a last-minute addition to the Dec. 12 Planning and Zoning meeting agenda, when Katz and Palmer applied for a special permit to conduct a week-long open house-style event at their residence. David and Denyse Stoneback, residents of 11 Stone Fences Lane who moved to Kent from the Chicago area in the spring of 2024, presented complaints to the Commission regarding speeding and traffic congestion on the road that they attributed to the studio, asking the Commission to deny the application.

Katz and Palmer were ultimately issued a permit to host the event — which drew only four cars throughout its duration, they claimed at the Jan. 9 public hearing — with the understanding that they apply for proper permitting for a commercial home studio in the future.

The couple returned to the Jan. 9 meeting seeking approval for the general permit, along with 206 letters in support of their home studio which had been sent to the Land Use Office, they said. Also present at the hearing were several other residents of Stone Fences Lane, including the Stonebacks, who doubled down on their condemnation of the application.

Kevin Frost, who is a part-time resident of the community but soon to be full-time, he said, stated that he won’t allow his children to ride their bicycles on the road during busy times due to concerns about speeding vehicles. He also posited that a domino effect might ensue from such an approval, encouraging other residents to similarly apply to host home businesses, thus spiking traffic levels further.

After the public hearing was closed, Commissioner Sarah Chase drew attention to the fact that this was an application for a special permit. She recommended that approval of the application be conditioned so that no precedent is set, and that “all other special permits are on a case by case basis, as they are meant to be.”

“We’re not setting precedents, we’re reviewing a single case,” Planning and Zoning Chair Wes Wyrick echoed later in the meeting.

Other commissioners were sympathetic to the traffic concerns levied by the residents, though maintained that they hadn’t seen sufficient proof that the studio was a major contributor to congestion and speeding on the roadway. Vice Chair Karen Casey said that speeding and traffic are concerns everywhere in Kent today, including on the single-lane dirt roadway she resides on.

Casey also appealed to the cultural and community value of having artists live and work at home studios in Kent, a sentiment that was similarly expressed by several residents during the public hearing as well as in the support letters.

“I would be terribly upset if we all the sudden prohibit artists from living in their homes and doing their artwork, which is how I see this,” Casey said. “I think it’s part of our culture here.”

“This is an activity that should be embraced by the community,” agreed Commissioner Lawrence Dumoff.

The commission is expected to vote on a resolution at its next meeting on Feb. 13.