A local contractor is seeking to remove previous zoning commitments from a site in northwest Columbus.
Columbus City Council voted Wednesday to approve the first reading of an ordinance rezoning 3906 N. Indianapolis Road. from Industrial: General with commitments (I2c) to Industrial: General (I2) at the request of the AAA Striping Company.
According to city/county planning director Jeff Bergman, the company has indicated that they plan to build contractors’ offices on the site, which was previously home to the Bulldog Lanes bowling alley.
The property was previously rezoned as I2c in 2015 at the request of Next-Gen Fuels, a Seymour company that was interested in operating a biochar manufacturing facility, an operation that converts wood chips into charcoal.
The following commitments were placed on the property at the time of rezoning:
No outdoor storage of materials on the property will exceed the height of the required screening for that storage (as specified by the current zonig ordinance)
Required buffering along the west property line of the subject property (as specified by the current zoning ordinance) will include a 100% opaque fence or wall that is a minimum of six feet in height
As part of the redevelopment or “initiation of a new use on the subject property,” vehicle access from Paula Drive will be brought into compliance with the current zoning ordinance, “with all drives to no longer be used being physically removed in their entirety”
AAA Striping seeks to retain the I2 zoning but remove these commitments, Bergman said.
Councilwoman Elaine Hilber had some questions during the meeting about why the city should consider removing these commitments for a new applicant if they were intended to be safeguards originally.
Bergman said that he believes these commitments were placed on the site due to concerns about what the biochar facility would look like and whether the applicants understood local regulations.
He also recalled that there were questionsabout whether the property would be redeveloped or if the user was going to move into the property temporarily. Any redevelopment of the site would be required to meet most of these same conditions even without the city placing a commitment on the developer, he said.
It’s also his understanding that AAA Striping’s foremost concern was the drive access commitment.
“Once you actually measure out the separations required in the zoning ordinance, really because of the number of drives across the road, there’s really only one place for an access on that property,” Bergman said. “And what they’ve indicated to us and communicated to the Board of Zoning Appeals is to functionally have this site operate, they really need a second access point.”
Tim Thomas with Milestone Design Group, who is providing engineering services for the owner, confirmed that their primary concern was the drive. They also wanted to potentially have more flexibility on what kind of buffer to provide, so it made sense o seek the removal of all three commitments and “start fresh” under the I2 zoning requirements, he said.
“So you don’t necessarily have intentions of storing something taller than screening?” Hilber asked.
Thomas confirmed that they do not.
AAA striping also requested a variance from the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals to allow a new driveway with a separation of 17.6 feet from an existing driveway on the opposite side of Paula Drive, as opposed to the 100-foot minimum.
This was approved contingent on city council removing the rezoning commitments, Bergman said.