Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the site where Liberty Academy officials have signed an intent to lease at 1460 Jackson St. in Columbus, Ind., pictured on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Leaders of a new, private “classical” school in Columbus are pursuing a potential location, but the city’s planning staff have recommended that zoning officials deny their requests to allow a school at the proposed site.
Liberty Academy of Columbus has submitted applications for two use variances involving property at 1460 and 1450 Jackson St. These requests will be considered at the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals’ Tuesday meeting, which will be held in the council chambers of Columbus City Hall at 6:30 p.m. There will also be virtual options via Webex and the city’s livestream.
Liberty is seeking variances to allow a school in the Industrial: General zoning district and to allow the school to be located in a “Special Flood Hazard Area.” The preliminary recommendation from planning staff is to deny both requests, due to concerns about flood safety and the school’s potential effect on nearby traffic.
According to Republic coverage from 1976, a modern service headquarters for Indiana Gas Co. was constructed at 1460 Jackson St. in 1967. The company continued to be located there through at least April of 2000. Advertisements from later in that same year list 1460 Jackson St. as the address to send resumes for a job position with Insight Media Advertising.
The current owner of 1460 Jackson St. is the James L. Puckett Revocable Trust. According to planning staff, an office/warehouse building is located on the approximately 1.4-acre-site.
Victor “JR” Huff, head of Liberty Academy, wrote in a letter to the Board of Zoning Appeals that school leaders have spent nine months searching for the right location and believe 1460 Jackson St. is a “perfect” site for launching the school. It is their understanding that the property has been leased to Comcast for the past 30 years.
“They recently sold the property and the new owner has placed it up for lease and is very supportive of Liberty’s efforts to occupy the property,” he wrote. “The property has sufficient square footage to support both our launch year and two subsequent years of nominal growth as we establish our organization and operations. We have no intention to expand the facilities located on the property, and only intend to construct a small playground near the parking area as a minor improvement to the property.”
The school’s application states that Liberty also plans to make aesthetic improvements, make the property ADA compliant and implement upgrades for parking, classroom and restroom facilities.
Huff wrote that the presence of a school at the site would not cause any major disruptions to neighboring facilities, with pick-up and drop-off being contained to the parking lot and side drive areas. He also said that there were grounds to grant a floodplain variance because there are other schools in Columbus that “sit in flood zones similar to the property at Jackson St.”
However, planning staff wrote in their report that only a limited portion of these properties are located in mapped floodplains, and none of the school structures are located in the floodplain. Additionally, all of the schools in question have street access that would remain flood-free up to a 500-year flood event.
The planning department said the building at 1460 Jackson St. has flooding hazards including floodway, 100-year floodplain and 500-year floodplain. Critical facilities, including schools pre-school through 12th grade, are generally prohibited from locating in 100- or 500-year floodplains.
The majority of the subject property is located in the floodplain, including the building and access drive.
“It is unknown whether a 100- or 500-year flood event would be expected to inundate the building or just surround and cover Jackson Street,” planning staff wrote.
While school officials have provided a flood evacuation plan, planning staff still concluded that the variance should be denied.
Additionally, staff from both the planning and engineering departments expressed skepticism about whether the site could accommodate drop-off and pick-up without backing up traffic on Jackson Street.
The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals has four options in regards to use variances. The board can approve a request as proposed, approve it with conditions, continue the matter to a future meeting or deny the request (with or without prejudice).
Liberty Academy leaders wrote in a recent newsletter that they had signed an intent to lease on a local property but did not identify its location. Huff told The Republic that the site is very close to downtown and provides accessibility to both the east and west sides of Columbus. He added that there is an outdoor area with fencing that would allow for safe play.
“Our plan is a move within three to five years, if enrollment lives up to our projections,” he said. “And we see a lot of opportunity in Columbus. With NexusPark opening, there’s going to be a lot of medical offices and other things coming open in the next few years. And while the real estate market over the last year in Columbus has been kind of limited, we think in the next two or three, there may be an abundance of properties for us to kind of choose from as we grow.”
Liberty Academy plans to open Aug. 15, and 21 students were enrolled as of Feb. 17, according to the school’s newsletter. The school’s website states that while Liberty’s “ultimate goal” is to offer grades K-12, school officials expect to open with K-7 “in order to cultivate the culture necessary for a proper classical education.”
According to the planning department’s staff report, Liberty has a target of 80 students by year one and up to 110 by year three. The school expects to employ 10 faculty members in its first year and expand to 15-20 employees by its fifth year.
