Gloucester County is in the midst of updating its zoning ordinance, which saw its last major update in 1998.

Anne Ducey-Ortiz, director of zoning and planning, said that the ordinance review is still in its early stages. She expects the preliminary review, now being conducted by planners and the Gloucester County Planning Commission, should be completed by late 2018.

This will be followed with focus groups and public input, she said, which may see the Gloucester Board of Supervisors receiving the proposed update for its consideration perhaps in 2019.

The ordinance first went into effect in July 1984, Ducey-Ortiz said, and the changes are being considered to bring the Gloucester ordinance into compliance with State Code. Also, changes were earlier suggested by a Business Development Focus Group and comments planning staff received while interacting with the public.

Ducey-Ortiz said staff limitations had hindered an ordinance review. But senior planner Carol Rizzio has studied the ordinance and brought different parts of it to the commission in recent months.

“We want to make Gloucester more business friendly,” Ducey-Ortiz said. To that end, the present zoning categories are being reviewed.

Rizzio and Ducey-Ortiz said that some types of current businesses weren’t even operating here in 1984. The early discussion has looked at things such as food trucks, food huts and free-standing ice machines and where they might be allowed.

The complicated zoning chart will be revised, making it easier for businesses and others to use—to readily spot what businesses may or may not be allowed in a certain zoning district.

Rizzio and Ducey-Ortiz said that special attention is being given to the B-2 (Village Business) designation which is in place for the county’s two “villages,” one at Gloucester Court House in mid-county and the other in the Gloucester Point/Hayes area of the lower county.

The end result, Ducey-Ortiz said, will be a zoning ordinance that’s been simplified and clarified from the present version.