The city’s Board of Aviation Commissioners plans to create an airplex commerce center with 37 lots for small businesses to lease. The property consists of about 44 acres, located on the northwest side of Poshard Drive between Middle Road and Arnold Street.
Airport director Brian Payne said that while the board may choose to combine these small lots in the future to accommodate larger businesses, they are currently looking to lease to facilities that are about 3,000- to 10,000-square-feet in size. He described the project as “creating lots for future light industrial tenants to lease.”
The City Plan Commission has approved the board’s request for preliminary plat approval on the airplex commerce center, despite a concerned email from one citizen, C. Allen Anderson, who lives in a subdivision near the proposed site.
Anderson wrote that he and his wife were concerned that the airplex commerce center would result in increased traffic, which could endanger children. Their other concerns included a potentially increased crime rate, as more businesses moved to the area, added strain and increased response time for emergency services, “increased strain on infrastructure in the area” and noise pollution.
“Due to all of the above issues, it will without a doubt decrease residential property values in the area,” Anderson concluded. “This is a major negative side effect to the citizens along property adjacent to this project.”
After Anderson’s email was read, Payne replied that while he understood the concerns, the site for the airplex commerce center is not being rezoned, as it is already a designated industrial area. He added that the airport does not plan to make the area into a “large industrial park” and reiterated that they are looking to lease to small businesses.
Payne also said that the Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning for the property includes stipulations regarding light and air pollution.
“Not only is the PUD restrictive as to what goes in there, but the airport itself is very restrictive on what we allow in and do not allow in,” he said. “There are many businesses that come out here, that have interest in being here at the airport, but they’re not a good fit for what it is that we have in our current tenants that are around. It’s not a free-for-all, by any means. Our airport board takes all of those things very seriously.”
Among other planned changes is the creation of a new street that intersects Poshard Drive opposite Deerbrook Drive. The new street will be named “Suverkrup Drive,” in honor of Bud Suverkup, who was a board member of the Board of Aviation Commissioners from 1976-1991, according to Payne.
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A full, detailed report on the planned airplex commerce center can be found on the airport’s website at https://www.columbus.in.gov/planning/2020/05/22/columbus-plan-commission-june-10-2020-2/.
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