Central Ohio Housing: Outlying Communities and the City of Columbus Are Key GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

The previous edition of this column outlined changes that the BIA has made to reflect the growing presence of BIA members in the seven county Central Ohio region.

Builders and Developers Council co-chairs have divided up the region by county for purposes of tracking issues in an expanded number of communities -- Nicki Martin from Treplus Communities (Delaware and Union), Jeff Miller from CESO (Licking and Fairfield) and Mike Reeves from Kimley-Horn (Franklin, Madison, Pickaway).

This expanded effort does not alter the reality that the region’s core, the City of Columbus, remains the single largest jurisdiction for BIA members. No member builds in all communities, but Columbus is essential for multi-family and singlefamily companies alike, as well as infill, remodeling, and all the associate businesses who support this work.

This column will highlight some key efforts in the City of Columbus.

Zoning Code Reform. Over 90% of residential development projects in the city require rezoning and/or a variance. The City’s current zoning code clearly is dysfunctional and an impediment to housing market supply and a contributor to higher than necessary housing prices/rents.

The city has identified main throughfare corridors for its initial focus of a code re-write. Over 11,500 parcels that front 140 lane miles of roadway and are in over 30 area/neighborhood commissions encompass this focus area. The city will spend 2023 working on creating new zoning options that can better address future needs in these areas. There will be extensive community outreach and engagement over the course of the year, pointing towards an early 2024 adoption of new code map and language.

BIA Executive Director Jon Melchi sits on the City’s Zoning Code Advisory Committee. Maps and other details are available on the city’s special zoning code website: zone-in-columbus.hub.arcgis.com.

Zoning Approval Process. The city is not waiting for a new code to begin to tackle the long-time challenge of the excessive amount of time it takes to get approvals on zoning requests. Spearheading this effort is Scott Messer, the Director of Building and Zoning Services.

Director Messer has created a case manager system so that the City has a designated staff member who is responsible for engaging with all the relevant stakeholders in the approval process. Additionally, staff are tracking and working to improve zoning approval timeframes. This effort was launched in the first week in April. The BIA serves on a steering committee for this work. There is a high level of transparency on the status of projects, and everyone involved is working towards seeing improvements yet this calendar year.

Development Approval Process. Getting development plans fully approved so that construction can begin can many times involves as much time as getting zoning approved. Again, Scott Messer, the Director of Building and Zoning Services, is spearheading an initiative to improve this process, with an initial goal of reducing average approval times by 50% - from the current 9 months to 4.5 months.

This initiative also involves a project management system, with regular reporting on plan status, number of reviews required, etc. The BIA also serves on this steering committee and is working with the city to incorporate an expediated review process that would involve commitments from both public and private sector parties to commit to timelines for key steps in the process.

Policy Changes. In addition to the big issues involved in the work described above, the increased focus on timeframes for city approvals has brought to light in our public/ private steering groups a number of individual policies or practices that should and can be changed.

To the City’s credit, they have begun to take action on items like improvements to the traffic study process to shorten the time required or altering the timeframe for payment of construction inspection deposits to allow earlier construction starts.

Also there have been standards changes, like the placement of backflow devices that may remove the need for a separate external structure or increased flexibility in mixed use building on the need for separate water taps.

Conclusion. There is no doubt that the city is a large, complex and often is a maddening entity, with which to navigate approvals. However, there are serious people in leadership in the city who are working to make improvements. As the city is an essential part of the housing market for the BIA membership, the BIA will remain engaged and focused on any and all opportunities for improvement to help members better meet the housing demand in Central Ohio.

BIA members can discuss updates and have input on this work through the BIA’s monthly Builders and Developers Council meeting that is tracked on the BIA’s website calendar.

For questions, please contact Gareth Whaley at gwhaley@isaacwiles.com