The Columbus Board of Aviation Commissioners is moving ahead with its plan to build a new set of aircraft hangars.
The city has approved the board’s request to rezone five acres from Industrial: Heavy (I3) to Public and Semi-Public Facilities for this purpose. The property is located at the northeast corner of Arnold Street and Andrews Street. The board currently plans to build a large unit with seven individual hangar spaces on the north end of the five acres.
While the Columbus City Council typically requires two readings to approve an ordinance, the council voted to suspend the rules and approved the rezoning ordinance after a single reading on Tuesday.
Planning director Jeff Bergman noted that other than the property in question, only one airside area is zoned for I3.
“The airside of the airport is predominantly zoned P, which is Public and Semi-Public Facilities, and then the land side is zoned PUD for the airpark and its various uses,” he said. He added that the planning commission’s research did not uncover any reason for the I3 zoning.
The new hangars will be leased to plane owners to house one single engine aircraft per space. The municipal airport on the north side of Columbus currently owns 32 individual spaces for aircraft, all of which are filled.
In June, the board of aviation commissioners approved seeking bids for the new set of hangars. Airport director Brian Payne said that the board aimed to have bids back by Tuesday in preparation for the Columbus Redevelopment Commission’s July 20 meeting where assistance with utilities and pavement will be requested.
Payne described the new units as looking similar to the current condo hanger units but much smaller in scale. The airport currently owns six condo hangars; all but one is rented. The remaining unit is being used to house snow removal equipment until a new maintenance storage unit is constructed.
“Each unit is 42 feet wide by 33 feet deep, which is big enough to house any single engine craft,” he said. He added that there would also be a 12-foot tall opening across, a restroom, a flight planning area, a 12 by 12 roll-up door, a man door on the land side and a man-door-only on the air side. He also said that the board has proposed a parking lot that will be twice the size of what they need, in order to allow additional people to park.
