The Cranston City Council Ordinance Committee unanimously approved the establishment of the Garden City Center Development District on Thursday night.

The main features of the amended ordinance, which was passed on to the full City Council meeting this Monday, included increased allowable building height, different property uses, changes to off-street parking and proportional signage for each business.

If passed by the council, the ordinance would allow the construction of structures up to 100 feet tall. That new limit would easily surpass the highest structure in the complex, L.A. Fitness, which stands at just under 40 feet, facade and all. The current limit for Garden City, which is run by the Wilder Group, is 35 feet. Chapel View cannot exceed 83 feet.

One concern was the concept of erecting a parking garage in the area with the new wiggle room. Bill Katz, who has lived in the Hollows area just below Garden City for 15 years, expressed his fears during public comment on Thursday night.

“What if 10 or 15 years from now, they decide to put up a 3- to 4-story parking garage?” Katz, who said Friday afternoon the meeting did nothing to allay his worries, inquired.

“This proposal would give them permission to start the process. Hillside with trees and sunset and open views would turn into the back of a garage. It is unacceptable to me as a homeowner.”

Though “structured parking” is listed as one of the new allowed uses in the GCCDD plan provided by DiPrete Engineering, Garden City attorney Bob Murray put to rest any discussion on a garage for at least the near future.

“There are no plans for one right now,” Murray said. “But if we were to do one, we don’t know where it would go. It would cost multiple millions, not enormous, but would add additional parking. It will not be built until such time that ownership thinks it is needed, desirable, affordable and makes sense.”

Outside of a parking garage, the new ordinance would allow Garden City to consider adding drive-thru restaurants and “multi-family dwellings” to the center. Murray said that, for example, if Garden City were to weigh the addition of a boutique-style hotel, it would need the lenience of extra building space. He estimated such a structure would need about six to seven stories, or 60 to 70 feet. This plan could also include a “residence above [a] first-story business.”

The end goal would be to continue to attract either unique or unfamiliar businesses to Rhode Island, like L.L. Bean or Anthropologie, to combat the burgeoning e-commerce industry. The Center continued to do so last week when it announced the introduction of Legal C Bar, a Legal Sea Foods spinoff and Massachusetts staple, to its Phase 4 development. Blueprints for Phase 4, which includes the 30,000-square-foot parcel of land between Bank of America and Newport Creamery, show a stretch of more new retail and restaurant locations.

According to the ordinance, the possibilities are enumerated for the new Development District. These new structures would range from an assisted living facility to a “higher education institution.” Others include a yacht club, bakery, barbershop, day care, electrical vehicle charging station, nightclub and pawn shop, among numerous others.

As for drive-thru establishments, which Murray noted as one of the most important innovations, look no further than across the street at Chapel View for an example. Certified Land Planner Greg Guglielmo, a Cranston West graduate, of DiPrete knows the city well and said such restaurants are a matter of convenience. He used the drive-thru Panera Bread at Chapel View as an example.

“Drive-thru restaurants have changed,” Guglielmo said. “When you’re traveling with kids, you go to Panera and drive-thru makes it easier. High-end restaurants are going that route, too.”

Despite the future additions, DiPrete argues there is no need for additional parking. According to their analysis, 50 percent of Garden City’s land is devoted to “parking, travel lanes and loading areas.” Though Garden City’s 2,541 spaces fit within zoning requirements, DiPrete argues there is still too much devoted to parking.

“In addition to the management team that is on the ground at Garden City Center, data by the Urban Land Institute supports a ratio of parking for centers of this scale between four spaces and [4.5] spaces per 1,000 [square feet],” reads DiPrete’s plan. “This would equate to a surplus of approximately 285 to 550 spaces.”

The ordinance would reduce the requirement of five spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail to four, as Garden City falls into the “captive market.” DiPrete defines this simply: “People who are already in the immediate vicinity and are likely patrons of a second use.” Since a person may be on site for multiple reasons, such as a Garden City employee who stops by Chipotle for lunch, the parking requirements can be reduced.

While parking may not need any expansion, signage certainly will. Murray described that, under the current regulations, a large business like L.A. Fitness is allowed the same 30 square feet of signage as Hallmark. The new ordinance would allow this to be proportional to the size of the structure being used.

The new ordinance would revise that standard to one similar of neighboring Warwick. Each business would receive two square feet of signage per linear foot of frontage or size of the facade. That number would decrease to one square foot for the side and rear of the structure.

Garden City General Manager Joe Koechel and Murray both suggested a makeover to the rusted sign at the intersection of Sockanosset Cross Road and New London Avenue.

“We’re a black tuxedo with a brown pair of shoes; it just doesn’t match,” Murray said of the old sign. “Retailers don’t want to go on it and it’s rusted and hazardous for employees to change. It’s time for the center to look toward electronic signage.”

Murray said the electronic sign would operate from 6 a.m. to midnight with advertisements for businesses solely located within Garden City. He added that it would be “unobtrusive to surrounding properties.” He added that there would be two signs, one at the entrance to each end of the center that would be converted to electronic use.

The proposal was originally withdrawn in December so that there could be corrections made to some of the language in the ordinance. Its amended version was heard before the committee and sent to the full Council meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday.