Elaine Hilber
City officials have given their initial approval for a rezoning that would allow a developer to build duplexes on a property in northeast Columbus.
Columbus City Council has approved the first reading of an ordinance rezoning about seven acres from Residential: Single-Family 2 to Residential: Two-Family at the request of Vision Housing, LLC. Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be fully approved, and the council’s next meeting is set for Aug. 15.
“The property to be rezoned is a yet-undeveloped portion of the Princeton Park subdivision,” city/county planning director Jeff Bergman wrote in a memo to council members. “It is located on the west side of County Road 150 West, west of that road’s northernmost intersection with Paula Drive. This property is separated from the rest of the Princeton Park Subdivision by the Joseph Anthony Regulated Drain. The applicants have indicated their intent to develop a new neighborhood of 32 ‘garden homes’ arranged as 16 duplexes on the property.”
According to the planning department’s staff report, Vision Housing has requested the rezoning so that it can work under density and development standards that would facilitate this type of home.
City Councilwoman Elaine Hilber expressed her support for the plan.
“These are going to be duplexes,” she said. “That’s a huge piece of the missing middle housing that we don’t have enough of in Columbus, so that’s huge for us.”
She later asked what the price point would be.
Tim Thomas with Milestone Design Group, who spoke on behalf of the applicants, replied that the cost of materials will be a factor in the eventual price. He added that each unit is expected to have two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a one-car garage. The shared wall between units will be the garage wall.
“The target demographic is empty nesters, single professionals, those with smaller families, those kinds of things,” Thomas said. “It’s planned to be more affordable, but would be the little a ‘affordable’ and not the capital A ‘Affordable.’”
Hilber replied that this is probably what the city is looking for, as she’s heard that it’s hard to find housing in the $100,000 to $300,000 range.
“They want to try to provide an option where people look and say, ‘I could rent or I could have a mortgage and own a piece of property, and it would be kind of a wash, financially,’” Thomas said.
According to Bergman, the Columbus Plan Commission voted 9-0 to send Vision Housing’s rezoning application forward to city council with a favorable recommendation and a commitment that the eventual development of the property will include a shared-use path along the property’s County Road 150 West frontage.
As stated in the ordinance, the path will be a minimum of 10 feet in width and meet all other standards provided by the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
“This new path shall connect to and provide a continuation of the existing path on the property to the north,” the commitment states. “The new path may be incorporated into the development and is not required to be immediately adjacent to 150 West for the entire frontage if (1) user access is provided at the south-west corner of the 150 West / Paula Drive northernmost intersection and (2) the path is provided in a right-of-way or an appropriate easement for its entire length.”
The commission also approved a preliminary subdivision plat from the applicants, subject to city council’s approval of the rezoning, Bergman said.
Per the staff report, flood hazards on the site include 100-year floodplain and 500-year floodplain.
“A portion of the property is located within Flood Zone AE (100-year and 500-year floodway fringe),” planning officials wrote. “The proposed development will be required to meet the standards for development in a special flood hazard area, as described in Section 4.7 of the Zoning Ordinance. These standards include, but are not limited to, constructing the lowest floor of all structures at or above the flood protection grade.”
