The Columbus City Council has approved a three-story apartment building on the Far Northwest Side despite strong pushback against the project from neighbors.
Council members said the region needs more housing and called on residents of the historically low-density neighborhood to embrace change.
The council voted 8-1 at the June 8 hearing to approve rezoning the property at 2100 Hard Road, located west of the Smoky Row Road intersection and between the Kilbourne Estates subdivision and Montgomery Court Apartments.
Councilmember Christopher Wyche voted against the rezoning, citing the community’s concerns, but added that he generally agrees with adding density in that area.
The developer, Preferred Living, is planning five buildings with 112 units and 212 parking spaces on the approximately five-acre site, currently zoned for “limited rural residential.” Of those 112 units, 34 will be for renters making 80% of the area median income, said David Hodge, the developer’s attorney.
The property is next to land where the Columbus Growth Strategy – the city’s new land use plan – allows for mixed-use development with buildings up to four stories tall.
In January, the Columbus Development Commission voted 5-2 against plans for the three-story apartment complex. Development Commissioners who voted against the proposal generally agreed with some residents’ comments that the complex was too intrusive in the neighborhood.
However, the commission is just an advisory body, and the Columbus City Council had the final say.
At the City Council meeting on June 8, residents again shared concerns related to the apartment complex’s size relative to the surrounding single-family homes and how it will impact the area’s traffic and character.
Scott Fredickson, an area resident, said the neighborhood’s concerns are not NIMBYism, and they would embrace development that reflects a fair and balanced approach, specifically if it featured a two-story design.
“Our concerns have been consistent and specific,” Fredrickson said. “The scale of this proposal, specifically the three-story height, is not appropriate for the surrounding area. Let me be very clear. None of us here tonight opposing this specific proposal expect the property to remain undeveloped.”
Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans said the rezoning item up for debate had nothing to do with height, but rather whether the property should be rezoned for apartments.
Lisa Kaiser, another area resident, said she is worried about traffic in the neighborhood becoming more congested. Her daughter was involved in a car accident across from where the apartments will be, she said.
“Our car was totaled,” Kaiser said. “My daughter was okay, though. But if these apartments go in, with this ultra density, this will happen many, many times over, every day, twice a day.”
Jonathan Beshears said that as a Christian and long-time Columbus resident, he is deeply concerned about the housing shortage in Columbus. Beshears said the concerns of other residents are valid, but he wants to make people aware when they are doing “something that wasn’t consistent with [their] own principles.”
“These people who need housing, they are made in the image of God,” Beshears said. “Just like the people in this room. They have the same dignity we have.”
Julia Beshears, Jonathan’s daughter, said new housing projects in Columbus consistently cause an “uproar.”
“People in this area loudly oppose a project because it’s too tall or whatever they want to say,” Julia Beshears said. “They seem to have no regard for the massive housing shortage in this city and what it’s doing to rent prices.”
Councilmember Nancy Day-Achauer recalled a time when her daughter graduated from high school, and they were living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Day-Achauer said that at the time, people opposed apartments, and she and her daughter became homeless.
“We got priced out of our apartment,” Day-Achauer said. “And we couldn’t find anything. I was making $75,000 a year at that time, and I could not afford a place.”
Councilmember Emmanuel Remy also found issue with what opposed residents were arguing.
“I saw comments in here, like, ‘We don’t [want to] junk up the neighborhood with more crime,'” Remy said. “I mean, what do you people think? Who do people think live in these places? Because these are teachers, these are nurses. It is sickening to me.”
City staff recommended rezoning at the meeting, citing its alignment with the Columbus Growth Strategy and the city’s zoning overhaul initiative, ZoneIn.
Preferred Living also requested to reduce the minimum building line setback from 60 feet to five feet along the frontage, which Hodge said would improve “the pedestrian experience.” City Council unanimously approved that request.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: City Council overrules development commission, OKs contested Hard Road apartments
Reporting by Nora Igelnik, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Nora Igelnik, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
