In the Nov. 3 election, Paris Township residents will decide Issue 31, a measure to repeal the township’s zoning regulations altogether.
A yes vote will repeal the township’s zoning code; a no vote will retain it.
Some background: in November 2025, Paris Township trustees reverted to its 2008 zoning code, rejecting amendments made in 2017, 2019 and 2021, as well as a slew of updates the township zoning commission proposed in November 2025.
Among the most recent proposals, none of which were actually ever added to the zoning code, one would have required people engaging in target practice on their own property to set up proper backstops. It also stated that “not all properties are suitable for shooting activities,” outlined the circumstances when police should be involved, detailed acceptable shooting range locations and set up hunting guidelines.
A second red-flag issue was a 2019 amendment prohibiting unlicensed motor vehicles or trailers to be parked on any residential property other than in a completely enclosed building. The provision included “semi-trailers, on-residence mobile homes, buses, truck bodies or beds, rail cars of any type, automobiles used for storage, or materials left from any [disassembly] of any [of] these items.”
Former township Zoning Inspector Charles Garrett said the gun issue was the catalyst for the repeal effort.
“Once you say the word gun, especially in Ohio, a pretty red state, you just get people's hackles up, and it’s not a zoning issue. Zoning doesn’t regulate guns at all. They might regulate shooting facilities, but not your pot shooter, and not in the back of the yard. That’s unsafe. You just call the law, and they’ll come down and advise them on how to shoot safely,” he said.
Despite the trustees’ decision to reject the zoning commission's 2025 proposed amendments — one of which would have repealed the 2019 regulations affecting unlicensed vehicles — township residents continued to object, packing public meetings and eventually launching a successful petition drive to place zoning on the November ballot.
Amanda Suffecool, chairperson of the Portage County Republican Party, a county board of elections member and a national NRA board member, lives in Paris Township. In August, she posted on Facebook that the 2025 proposals made Paris, a rural farm community, “look more like an HOA.”
Suffecool told The Portager that the "overreach" in the township’s current and proposed zoning code was “just egregious and so the community kind of pushed back.”
If voters repeal zoning — meaning they vote yes on Issue 31 — Paris will be the second township in Portage County to do away with zoning. The other township is Deerfield. It’s a club Paris Township Trustee Dave Kemble does not wish to join.
“I believe zoning is good for townships,” he said. “Get rid of zoning, and all the residential and agricultural property becomes open for whatever anybody would want to do. Anything from auto wrecking yards to if you wanted to collect junk cars, you could. Nobody could do nothing about it.”
Repealing zoning would also let any business set up anywhere, as there would no longer be residential, commercial or agricultural districts. A junkyard, auto wrecking yard or data center could be set anywhere, as well as a business that makes noise 24 hours a day, and there would be no local zoning regulations to stop it, Kemble said.
Portage County Regional Planning Commission Director Todd Peetz characterized zoning regulations as minimum standards for a community. If property owners believe current zoning regulations are too restrictive, lowering them even further defies logic, he said.
“When you make that investment into land, you know what your neighbors can build on their land, so you know what protections there are to maintain your property values. Without zoning, there is no protection to maintain your property value,” he said.