Nora Gerber, executive director of University District Organization, addresses the crowd. Credit: Kyrie Thomas | Lantern File
The University Area Commission Zoning Committee’s meetings often come with lively comments and debates from neighbors.
Historically, the committee’s job has been to evaluate variance applications from developers who want to make exceptions to zoning rules about carriage houses, signage, parking and more. The Columbus City Council then receives recommendations from the UAC on how it should cast its final vote on different variances.
But, the commission and the people they represent may soon no longer have a say.
A new initiative by the Columbus City Council, called the Zone In project, will go in front of the council next year and will entail a major revision of the city zoning code. With this revamped zoning code, the need for some developers to consult area commissions and hear comments from neighbors may not be necessary.
The University District is the densest area in Columbus, and according to Rob Dorans, president pro tem of the city council, the population continues to grow.
“We know that we’re going to be adding hundreds of thousands of residents over the next 50 years,” Dorans said. “We know that we need to have better land use policy to accommodate that growth.”
Zone In will streamline the zoning process with this growth so it is easier for developers to build up the city, and it is the first remodel of the zoning code in 70 years, Dorans said.
When the rezoning or variance process begins, six to 18 months are added to the development timeline. Dorans said diminishing the added time can allow developers to quickly build more affordable housing.
The result of this change means fewer rezones and variances will go before the commission, and some developers will have the green light to build on predetermined properties.
“Let’s go ahead and rezone that [area] upfront and say that housing providers, if you want to develop multifamily here, you don’t need to go through the rezoning or variance process,” Dorans said.
There will be no official requirement for these developers to go in front of the commission, but Dorans said the city council will encourage housing providers to engage with area commissions to make sure they are “good neighbors.”
Seth Golding, a commissioner for 25 years and current treasurer representing the northwest part of the area, said he doubts any developers will consult the commission voluntarily, and the notion that they will do so sounds like “lip service.”
“That’s just, to me, totally illogical thinking,” Golding said.
Golding said that the city council removing checkpoints from the zoning process could have detrimental effects on existing community members.
“It’s at the expense of those that have already invested and lived here, and I think that’ll totally erode the quality of life and over-densify the already most, by far, dense district in this state,” Golding said.
Brian Williams, who has represented the southeast part of the area for eight years, is more optimistic. He said he hopes the Zone In initiative will remove the many hoops that stop smaller businesses and small developers from building in the district, allowing them to compete with large developers.
“The current code is far more onerous for small-scale homeowners and small-scale builders than it is for the big corporations,” Williams said.
The code has too many “convoluted details,” according to Williams.
“That is no problem for the big developers because they can afford a team of lawyers to address all those things,” Williams said. “But if a citizen of Columbus wants to make a small investment in the neighborhood, the hurdles for them are even bigger than what the big companies are facing for massive projects.”
