Graphic provided Arbor Homes provided this illustration of lot sizes and configuration for a Genesis development.
A developer has received approval from city officials for a variance request on its affordable housing project.
The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals has approved a request from Arbor Homes to allow its Genesis homes to have lower percentages of ground floor living area than required by local zoning standards, said city/county Planning Director Jeff Bergman.
The homes will be located in a proposed Arbor Homes development on the east and west sides of County Road 200W, south of Lowell Road, in Columbus Township. The area is just south of Arbor Homes’ existing Abbey Place subdivision.
The developer plans to build a mix of both its typical homes and a new product known as “Genesis,” which is intended to be more affordable for first-time homebuyers. Genesis homes are designed in clusters centered on shared motor courts. Each home would include a two-car garage and fenced yard. The current concept plan proposes 188 lots for Arbor Homes and 92 for Genesis.
The staff report on the Arbor Homes’ variance request recommended that approval should be contingent on “the approval of the overall development consistent with the applicant’s submitted concept plan, including the needed annexation, rezoning, and subdivision platting.”
Arbor Homes is seeking to annex 98.90 acres, including 8.7 acres of right-of-way, into the city of Columbus’s corporate limits and rezone 90.2 acres from Agriculture: Preferred to Residential: Two-Family for the project. The Columbus Plan Commission discussed these applications at their last meeting and ultimately voted on a continuance.
Both the annexation and rezoning requests have been placed on the commission’s agenda for Feb. 9. As noted in a staff report, continuance is one of four options the commission has in regards to annexation and rezoning requests. They can also send requests forward to Columbus City Council with a favorable recommendation, an unfavorable recommendation, or no recommendation. The council makes all final decisions regarding both annexation and rezoning.
The request approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals was to allow a ground floor living area of less than the required minimum of 40%. The applicants sought a minimum of 20% instead, with this standard applying to a maximum of 92 homes in 14 clusters.
According to a presentation by Arbor Homes, each of its five Genesis models will have a ground floor living area of 539 square feet, with the total living area of these units ranging from about 1,100 to 2,300 square feet. The percentage of living area located on the ground floor would range from approximately 23% to 47%.
As noted in the staff report, three of the models are two-story residences, one is three stories and one is a “two-story dwelling with a third floor loft.”
Bergman said that the variance request was approved with the commitments recommended in the staff report. One was that the variance should only apply to a maximum of 92 homes to be arranged in groups of four to eight around a shared motor court, consistent with the applicant’s concept plan.
Furthermore, “Each home shall contain a front door and front porch, that is a minimum of 5 feet deep and 10 feet wide, both on the same façade as the garage and facing the shared motor court, consistent with the examples provided by the applicant.”
