City officials Tuesday night finalized a rezoning of property where a developer was originally planning some type of housing development, which ended up not coming to fruition because of infrastructure challenges.
Columbus City Council members passed the second reading of three different ordinances 8-0 to rezone just under 35 acres generally located on the west side of Indianapolis Road, west of its intersection with Omega Drive, from residential multi-family zoning to two different types of industrial zoning.
Council member Elaine Hilber, D-District 2, was absent. Council members passed the first reading on all three during their meeting on Oct. 21.
The applicant, Vision Housing LLC, had gotten the property rezoned in the summer of 2024, but opted to revert back to the original zoning after the developer found that infrastructure challenges in the area meant the project wouldn’t have been financially viable.
The rezoning requests were the following:
- Omega Drive: Eight lots and a storm water common area in the Drive-In Commercial Park (12.32 acres total) from Residential Multi-Family (RM) to Industrial: General with commitments (I2c)
- Omega Drive lots #3 and #4: Two lots in the Drive-in Commercial Park (3.21 acres total) from RM to Industrial: Light with commitments (I1c).
- West parcel: 19.2 acres west of 150 West from RM to I1c
Milestone Design’s Tim Thomas, a civil engineer enlisted by the developer, explained on Oct. 21 that Vision Housing LLC had “spent the last year working on the due diligence to try to make that residential come to fruition,” but “infrastructure is a real limiter in this location.”
“If you looked at 35 acres of multi-family and the potential to construct 300 or 400 houses there, it would overwhelm the existing infrastructure that is there,” Thomas told council members.
What it would require to pay for the improved infrastructure would be “quite a bit of a financial undertaking,” Thomas said, “whereas if we come through with an industrial development, it’s possible that the modifications required to accommodate that would be much more financially viable.”
Thomas also mentioned parking capacity issues, that the Omega Drive site’s racetrack roadway would need to be reconstructed and that all the drainage infrastructure that exists there would need to be replaced. He also said that Vision Housing had tried to purchase two other parcels at the corner of Omega Drive and Indianapolis Road that would serve as the front door to the development, but were unsuccessful.
Councilman Kent Anderson, R-District 5, asked Thomas last month whether the plan was for Vision Housing to develop the lots and then sell them, or construct buildings on the properties for lease, to which he noted he couldn’t speak to entirely, but did say “they (Vision Housing LLC) have intentions to at least develop something there for their own uses and purposes.”
Thomas also added that “other potential industrial users” have reached out about the availability of the lots considering there are limited shovel-ready industrial sites in Columbus.
The Columbus Plan Commission on Sept. 10 forwarded a favorable recommendation to the city council on the matter. The commission’s favorable recommendation on each of the rezonings included commitments related to access, use, and buffering, among other topics. They also included commitments originally added in 2017 for the “West” property, according to a report by planning staff.
All three properties are located in FEMA’s 100-year and 500-year Floodplain. The Omega Drive site was previously home to a drive-in commercial park, which has been vacant for at least 30 years.
Both the I1 and I2 zoning designations “provide locations for general production, assembly, warehousing, research and development facilities,” along with similar land uses, according to city documents.
According to a list of permitted uses presented by Planning Director Jeff Bergman, each zoning designation shares a number of similar uses. I1 uses specifically allow for office uses or a wholesale facility, for example, that are less intensive uses, while I2 allows for a wider range, including things like non-office government facilities, auto repair, food and beverage production, a commercial dry cleaners, among other uses.
Omega Drive lots #3 and #4 and the “West” property have surrounding residential uses, including Tudor Addition, Vision Village, Princeton Park and Abbey Place.
Bergman said neighbors particularly near the “West” property had preferred the area remain residential, but if the properties were to revert back to industrial zoning, that commitments accompanying a 2017 industrial rezoning involving increased buffering be included, which they were.
The Omega Drive rezoning includes commitments that access will only come from Omega Drive, and not from 150 West, as well as a sidewalk-related commitment.
The Omega Drive lots #3 and #4 rezoning includes a commitment that access will also only come from Omega Drive, and that any industrial operations on the property will be completely enclosed.
The “West” rezoning includes the same Omega Drive access commitment as the other two, but also another related to increased buffering. Commitments that any industrial operations be completely enclosed and that material silos will be no taller than any primary structure were also included, as well as others that restrict outdoor storage, truck drop offs anywhere but the south side of the property and a couple of otherwise permitted uses like truck intensive distribution facilities or self-storage. The ninth and final commitment on the property requires that an old existing right-of-way near County Road 150W be developed as a shared-use path.
