AKRON, Ohio — Akron City Council voted unanimously at its Oct. 19 meeting to eliminate minimum lot sizes from the city code, a change officials said will open several thousand new places in the city where homes can be built.
Under the old rules, a single-family home required a lot of at least 4,000 square feet. Larger builds required lots at least 60 feet wide on 7,000 square feet. With those minimums now removed from the code, builders will no longer be blocked from putting a home on a lot solely because the parcel falls below those sizes.
Mayor Shammas Malik pitched the change at his 2026 State of the City address. He said many Akron neighborhoods have vacant lots flanked on either side by identical homes, but filling in those lots with similar-sized homes was prohibited under the lot size restrictions. According to Malik, that left the lots unbuildable and forced people seeking permits to build through a long, costly process.
The proposal drew support from community members and organizations during the council’s review. Zak Kohl, executive director of The Well Community Development Corporation, was among those advocating for the change at a Sept. 28 hearing on the proposal.
Kohl said six of the 18 lots in the Middlebury neighborhood owned by The Well were undevelopable under the city’s old rules. He said the change would allow The Well to rebuild in Middlebury in line with what residents said they wanted — rebuilding on vacant lots with historic building patterns, rather than demolishing and rebuilding in a suburban style.
Support on council was unanimous at the vote, but not every concern had been resolved before it. Ward 8 Councilman Bruce Bolden was divided on the issue. He said he thought the change was a good idea, but he was concerned about giving up what control council has over neighborhood planning, and about residents being upset over what might get built in their neighborhood.
City officials presented the change as a way to increase Akron’s population and encourage development by making use of vacant land that already sits within established neighborhoods, next to existing homes and streets. Instead of leaving those parcels empty because they do not meet a minimum size, builders can now pursue homes on them under the revised code.
What happens next will be seen in the permit applications and building projects that follow, including in neighborhoods like Middlebury, where community groups have said they already hold lots that the old rules kept them from developing. The council’s Oct. 19 vote applies citywide.