The Columbus City Council will consider a request next month to rezone 8.56 acres as part of a plan by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus and the Hindu Society to create an interfaith campus.
Unitarian Church congregation member Allen Gifford went before the Columbus Plan Commission on Wednesday to seek approval to rezone property at 7850 and 7930 Goeller Road from agriculture preferred to public/semi-public facilities. The congregation and the society each own one of the lots and plan to merge the property into one interfaith campus, with plans for additional parking on the site.
The proposal initially went before the commission last month, but a motion to forward a favorable recommendation failed in a 5-1 vote, with commission member Laurie Booher voting against it.
Homeowner Rocky Myers, who lives west of the property, spoke to the commission at the time about concerns he had about the interfaith campus encroaching on his property and possible flooding that might occur.
Myers returned to the commission Wednesday expressing similar concerns, saying flooding already occurs near his home located at Goeller Road and County Road 525. Myers also said he would prefer not to have a retention pond located nearby since it would attract mosquitoes.
The commission agreed to forward a favorable recommendation in a 7-2 vote to the Columbus City Council, which will consider the matter during its 6 p.m. meeting Nov. 7. Commission members Laurie Booher and Rodney Finke voted against the matter.
Gifford said after the meeting that the overall plan is still being developed. A project timeline and plans for parking are still being developed, he said.
A site plan for the interfaith campus will have to be submitted to the commission if the rezoning is approved, said Jeff Bergman, city-county planning director.
